“Have you spoken with Luna recently?” Celestia asked me as she plopped herself down on the throne beside mine (hers was in the middle, depicting the order in which the suns rise over the horizon).
“No, she has been eating in her room again, sister,” I answered her, my mood instantly soured.
“She is starting to worry me, isolating herself like that...” Celestia muttered. I grunted, rubbing my eyes while letting out a tired yawn. We had just raised the suns and she was already talking about things I’d rather be more awake for. “It’s been ten years, Summer. Ten. Years. And she still thinks like a human.”
I sighed through my nose, vexed. “You can’t make her change her views and opinions like that, that’s not how it works,” I said to her. She was still going on about how herds were completely 'normal' for ponies. Back when they were still grazing on grass, that is. Only the earthponies were as open with that nowadays. Not like that wasn't already falling out of favor, now that lasting peace was a thing and they weren't forced to breed like crazy while in slavery. The era before the wendigos wasn't a happy one, I could tell. It was barbaric, and even that couldn't truly begin to describe it. “And what do you think ponies think about this topic, huh? They are no better than the naked apes.”
“Oh, now they are naked apes, huh?” she snickered and despite my mood, I smiled slightly. “What are you going to do next to further distance yourself from the idea that you were a human once, sister?”
“Shut up, that’s not what I’m doing and you know it,” I told her with a roll of my eyes. “I just want to embrace my pony life as a pretty pony princess, not constantly think about the family we left behind on Earth. They had to bury us, Tia. Our own children and your sister. Imagine what that must have been like for them.”
“Luna certainly hates our guts for it,” she muttered.
My smile turned into a frown at that. “She doesn’t hate us,” I said, though it felt more like I was in denial than anything else. “She just... doesn’t know how to cope with it. For six years we were dead for her on Earth and then we continued to lie to her for sixteen more by not telling her. I should've trusted my gut feeling…”
“Holding a grudge for ten years isn’t my definition of not knowing how to cope with it, Summy,” Celestia returned disgruntledly. “I don’t know what to tell her besides that I’m sorry for it and that I can’t help myself that I love her.”
“I guess that’s all we can tell her...” I whispered sadly. “How was your visit to Starswirl?”
“Too short,” she snorted. “I wish I could have stayed longer to help him with the mirror. Perhaps we get to test it out next month or so.”
“Any idea where to go first for the test?” I asked her. “There’s like... an unending amount of possible realities to choose from.”
“If we can choose where to go, that is. The jury is still out on that, dear,” Tia said. “I just hope we won’t run into danger.”
“Tia, danger follows Starswirl around,” I giggled. “It’s like every other Saturday that something happens with him around.”
“Well, he has a lot more time on his hooves now. I would do the same if we didn’t have to hold court and do paperwork and so on. An adventure is just the thing I need right now. Anything to get the adrenaline rushing through my veins again.”
“Please, just be careful?” I implored her. “I don’t want to lose you to some monster while you test out the mirror with him. It was bad enough already that Starswirl asked me to get a hydra up into his secret lair in Mount Canterhorn. Why did you have to give him that idea, again?”
“I thought it would be funny,” she pouted. “Nopony would dare to steal from him with the hydra keeping his knowledge safe. We don’t want this research getting in the wrong hooves, after all.”
“It’s still a stupid idea,” I grumbled. “Manfred almost ate me before I could ask him nicely.”
“Manfred? I thought his name was Siegfried?” Tia asked me, confused.
“They have multiple personalities, dear,” I told her. “Four heads, four brains.”
“Makes... weirdly sense, now that you mention it,” she said with a hum. “Anyway, how was your trip to the Empire? I would have gladly come with you, had you asked.”
To stare daggers at Amore, no doubt. I don't know why, but Tia got strangely jealous of the mare. She also told her in no uncertain terms to stay away from Luna, so there was that.
“It was nice, we had a chat over tea,” I said, giving her a sideways glance. “I think we might also have the modified version of that spell complete before long. Amore really took a liking to the idea. Something about an old friend of hers got her excited. I know you have been very patient with me on this, but I can tell that only using my tongue isn’t enough for you.”
Celestia snorted, already lost in her fantasies from the looks of it. “Don’t start to get me excited before court, sister. All I will be able to think of is cock for the rest of the day now,” she mumbled, already biting her lower lip while she fidgeted on her throne's cushion. “And now I can’t get the image of you with one out of my head, great...”
“Already horny first thing in the morning,” I giggled. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you will have to wait a few more months for this to become a reality, sister.”
Maybe even longer. I... I didn’t want to cast the spell on myself, but I couldn't just disappoint Tia. Something in me screamed in fear at the thought of having a penis again...
“Summer, why do you have to do this to me?” she whined. “You’re just going to make me count down the days now...”
I smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Tia. I guess Santa Claus can’t work miracles,” I told her, feeling slightly guilty that I was essentially leading her on with this. Even the thought alone made bile rise up my throat. “We totally should make an equivalent to Christmas, by the way.”
“Well, I suppose there is the founding day of Equestria that is pretty close to that day. We could celebrate it together with Christmas. I would rather call it a different name, though. I'm not a fan of… you know. The book that shall not be named. What should we call the holiday?” Celestia told me, a thoughtful look entering her eyes.
“Something cute?” I smiled. “I mean, practically everything named by ponies sounds cute, so it has to be.”
“Of course,” she rolled her eyes with an endearing smile. Then she got snarky with me. “How about ‘The Day Equestria was founded by Idiots’?”
“Cute, sister. Not degrading,” I scolded her. “Just because Platinum was there doesn’t mean you have to drag it through the mud.”
“Fine...” Tia grumbled, shifting around in her throne. “Clover and his friends basically saved the day by accepting friendship into their hearts, so how about Friendship Day?”
“I don’t know...” I said, rolling the name over my tongue a few times to test it out. “It sounds nice... but not cute enough. How about... Hearts... something. Help me out here, sister.”
“Well, they said they lit a fire in their hearts, right? Since we’re blatantly stealing all of the good traditions from Christmas, including the tree and chimney... what about Hearth’s Warming, then? Close enough, right?” she offered.
I gasped, a wide smile spreading on my muzzle. “That’s it! It sounds cute, it has a nice ring to it, and it can easily be celebrated by the whole family like Christmas,” I said, clapping my hooves together gleefully. “Eee! Hearth’s Warming Eve and Day, just like on Earth! Now we totally need a fireplace with stockings and a tree! We can bake cookies, sing a few carols, play in the snow...”
My wife snorted good-naturedly. “Don’t get too excited over this, we still have to make it official,” Celestia said while rolling her eyes with a small, fond smile on her muzzle. “I’ll make you do the paperwork and announcement for that, it was your idea.”
“I don’t care!” I proclaimed, laughing giddily. The work would be well worth it, I could tell. Ponies really do need more reasons to have a few celebrations every once in a while, so I was glad to provide something like that to our subjects. “This is going to be perfect! Oh, I can’t wait for winter to come around, now! I need to make a checklist, this is going to be so much fun!”
“Only you can be excited about making a checklist of all things. Can that wait after we are done with court, sister? And where is Luna? It’s almost time,” she told me. As she mentioned Luna though, I let out a sad sigh. “Don’t tell me she stayed up all night again, Summer. If she continues like this, she can hold court at night, instead.”
“I’m afraid she did, Tia,” I answered dejectedly. “She says it’s easier for her to access the dream realm like this, but both you and I know that’s just an excuse for her.”
“Alright, then. I don’t care. Let her do what she wants if it makes her happy. I’m not going to shirk my duties,” she groused bitterly while she ruffled up her wings angrily. “It’s not like we have a fucking nation to run. No, this is just a game, it’s not like ponies depend on us. There is nothing that could possibly go wrong, right? Why do your duties when you can have fun instead...”
“Don’t be so negative about it,” I sighed, admonishing her. “She is still doing her work... just at night. Let her have this, Tia. Hopefully, she will come around and see that we are here for her if she needs us.”
“What? By letting her further isolate herself from us?!” Celestia snorted as her anger spiraled further out of control. “Sure, that will work. You know what? Your plan to let her work it out on her own was stupid.”
“Can we just stop talking about this?” I grumbled. “You aren’t making this any better, either. When was the last time you spoke to her?”
“I don’t remember,” she answered half-heartedly. “Because you know... she leaves the room when I enter it.”
“Really? But I thought...” I muttered surprised.
“Summer, you’re the only one she talks to anymore,” Tia told me with a glare, clearly jealous of me. “She has started to snap at the servants and guards, she's constantly in a sour mood! I don’t know what to do…"
Tears welled up in her eyes and I felt bad for her. “I’ll see if I can talk to her,” I said, trying to comfort her to the best of my ability. “This can’t continue on like this.”
“We’re going around in circles now, Summy. Tell me something I don’t know already,” Celestia said with a huff, disgruntled and upset. “We can talk about this all day long, it won’t change anything if she doesn’t want to listen to us.”
I gave my sister a sympathetic look and offered her a hoofkerchief so that she could make herself look presentable again. This was just painful to watch. I have to get them back on friendly terms, it was tearing not only her apart, but me too. Not to mention how Luna must be feeling. “As I said, I will talk to her. Now, let’s start holding court, we can't keep everypony waiting.”
Celestia nodded, wiping her eyes with a heavy and shaky sigh before she opened the large doors at the end of the throne room with her golden magic. We still had a bit of difficulty with reining in our increased power at times (especially during emotional duress), but mundane things like levitation were mostly back to manageable levels.
We had also figured out how to keep our fiery aura around ourselves in check (ironically, thinking about Luna helped me, in that regard). Now, it was more like we were exuding a cozy warmth around us (which was nice in the winter for everypony else, but not so much in the summer months). Tia and I could also make it hotter if we really wanted to. Like melting stone hot.
That was something I would never forget. My own sister sunken halfway in a pool of molten rock as we were still experimenting with our newfound power. She had grumbled angry words at me for a few months after I couldn't help myself but giggle my flanks off while she tried to get the molten rock out of her coat.
Celestia and Starswirl also found out that our feathers were (more or less) magic conductive now. While we could absorb an attack of the magical variety with them for a few seconds (they do have their limits), they couldn't keep us safe from physical attacks. Not without some highly risky transfiguration tricks involved, that is.
It wasn’t like they were the perfect defense all of a sudden, but if we ever had to go fight against a rogue wizard, we would have a better chance to come out on top. If we don’t just overwhelm them with the might of the suns like the overpowered cheats that we are. Those were obviously the sources of our newfound power, as anypony would easily find out even if they were blind. They were quite literally pumping their magic into us, increasing the mana pool we could draw from to an almost unlimited amount.
My core was already incredibly powerful before this, now it was on an entirely different level. Where before it was 'only' on a cataclysmic scale, it could now usher in the apocalypse as we know it. Hence, the vision I had in the otherworldly plane of existence.
With great power does come great potential to screw things up. Not that I intended to ever let it come to that. Ponies were too cute to let them burn in the apocalypse, after all.
Anyway! As the first ponies started to trickle in, my mind wandered back to Luna. Why was she behaving so anti-social? Was it really so bad that Celestia wanted to form a herd with her and me? I mean, I have seen a couple of herds and they all seemed so happy and content. Sure, they were rare nowadays, but still. It was actually possible to make it work, especially when everypony involved loved each other very much.
It felt like it could bring us closer together, yet this dilemma had only managed to drive us further apart. The few talks I had about this with Amore didn’t help much, either. Amore wasn’t entirely surprised to find out that Celestia and I had these feelings for Lulu, but her advice wasn’t very helpful beyond telling us that we had to let Luna decide what to do. Forcing her into this was an incredibly bad idea.
I really wanted to heed those words. I do. However... ten years like this and I was already starting to waver in my conviction of letting her sort her feelings out by herself. I still thought that giving Luna her space was for the best, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to give in to my temptations of confronting her about this. Even if she gave me a rejection, I just wanted us to be sisters again.
Celestia had to nudge me out of my thoughts a few times during court and I could tell she wasn’t entirely happy with me being so lost in them. I just... couldn’t really concentrate on the problems our ponies brought to our attention. That also continued over the next few weeks as more and more things started to worry my mind.
Luna had mostly stopped talking with me, too, after I confronted her about her lack of communication with Tia. I had a hard time getting her to at least talk with us during work. She kept everything we said to each other to purely work-related things, not even letting us know how she slept or how she was doing. Usually, she would have been happy to talk about her hobbies, but even that she kept to herself nowadays.
It was frustrating seeing her lose herself to a workaholic nature, trying to keep her mind away from... more personal feelings. Sometimes we saw her with us holding court in a silent manner, other times she decided to do what Celestia had snarkily mentioned to her and began to hold court at night.
After that, she slowly started to hold court over the night more and more, feeling like that was the better alternative to sitting beside us for half the day and being reminded of what we felt about her.
Whenever I managed to get her to attend court with us, she kept her gaze away from us. It hurt my feelings a lot, but it wasn't like I could do something about it. Not without risking her stopping interacting with us entirely. There was also another thing that she started to do that I felt conflicted about how I should feel about it. She lost herself in the archaic tongue, likely thinking it would alienate us from her or something similar to that. That was perhaps the most frustrating thing about her behavior. I couldn’t help but find it arousing, but at the same time, it was sad that she basically treated us like strangers.
It wasn’t just Luna that was keeping my mind occupied these days, though. The thought of the foal Amore had brought to my attention so long ago was also weighing heavily on my mind. Little Sombra had grown up into a young stallion by now and we still haven’t figured out where he came from.
And then there was the fact that he was still lacking his Cutie Mark, a very odd thing for a unicorn his age. I mean, sure, my sisters and I hadn’t gotten ours until we were adults ourselves, but that was probably more due to us being unique in the way that our race presumably didn’t get theirs until very special conditions were met.
Like raising a (very bubbly) sun, for example. Or Luna with her sleepy moon (it was apparently very lethargic, according to my sister's first description of the floating rock). Celestia's sun was… rather snooty and arrogant, having a similar temper to my twin when offended. Her sun barely tolerated me as a temporary guardian when Tia felt like 'sleeping in', it had utterly despised the unicorns for touching it with their magic.
Something told me that Sombra also had a special destiny set out for him by this world's magic, too. Whether that was good or bad remained to be seen, though.
From what Amore has told me, the power of the Crystal Heart seems to cause him massive discomfort. And it wasn’t just that. There was one conversation that stood out to me very much, and that was when Sombra and his foalhood friend had seen the reflection of the Crystal Heart a few years ago. It was apparently a timey wimey, gimmicky magic crystal ball capable of foretelling your destiny.
What he saw, though, caused me quite a bit of worry. Amore assured me that she would be able to handle the 'destiny' that awaited Sombra, stating that nothing was truly set in stone. But still, such a fate was… horrifying, to say the least.
He saw himself enveloped in shadows, dark magic shining forth from his eyes as he was utterly corrupted by the lure of power. Amore was hopeful that she could make him see that this possible future didn’t have to come to pass, and yet, I was a bit doubtful she could change the 'Threads of Fate' as she hoped to.
I wanted him to be this 'stalwart stallion' Amore kept pretending he could be, hoping he could live up to her expectations, but... I feared it was nothing but a hopeful dream on her part.
I thought back to the letter Celestia and I had sent over to the friend of Sombra with the proposal for her to come study here in Equestria under our guidance. She had shown quite the promise with her magical abilities and I was ashamed to say that I... well… I wanted to get her away from Sombra.
Something in me screamed at me that Sombra wasn’t what he appeared to be and that he was to be regarded as a threat to the safety of all ponykind and I hated myself for feeling like this.
Celestia, of course, was all too happy to get Radiant Hope to come here to Equestria if it meant I could sleep more easily if I knew she was safe from Sombra. That was also something that she herself felt needed to be done as she had had a vision of Radiant Hope crying her eyes out recently. A dream foretelling the events of nothing but despair.
One day at court, both of my sisters were there with me on that day for once, the young mare appeared before us, but not because she was here to tell us that she was going to accept our offer to learn from us and that was it. No, the news that she had come to us with was of a more… sinister… nature.
“It’s Sombra!” Radiant Hope told us, looking up from where she was bowing to us, heavy droplets running down both sides of her head and her eyes had lost the spark of love that was so commonly seen in crystal ponies. While her coat still shined and sparkled, its luster wasn’t entirely there anymore. It was dulled and the colors of her coat, mane, and tail were less vibrant, less lively. “He... h-he killed Princess Amore!”
My heart plummeted at her words. “What?!” I exclaimed, a numb feeling spreading within me. I was in disbelief, a horrified expression on my muzzle. Amore was dead? Just like that? W-why? Why would Sombra do such a despicable thing? A gold-clad hoof came to rest on my withers and I noticed the shimmer in the air from my fiery aura as it picked up significantly, responding to the seething hatred roaring to life within me. My best friend was dead... and I wasn’t there to aid her. Celestia gave me a comforting look and I did my best to rein in my temper. It wasn't easy and I wasn't sure if I even wanted to do so, unable to forgive the murder of my best friend. “Tell me, Radiant Hope, what did he do to her? How did she meet her end?!”
“He... h-he turned her into a crystal, Princess Summer,” she explained as she looked up at me, a sob escaping her lips. “...and then he shattered her, right in front of my eyes.”
“I’ll kill him...” I growled silently to myself, fury radiating off of me. It was one thing to unknowingly cause the death of somepony with your own actions and another entirely to do it on purpose for the sake of murder and nothing more. Platinum was disgusting in her own right, but Sombra… he was a monster. “We knew he couldn’t have been trusted! Amore... why didst thou have to make us promise to let thee handle it?”
“Sister, please,” Tia whispered gently. “Calm thyself.”
“You have to help him, he isn’t like that!” Radiant Hope wailed as she begged me, denial clear in her voice. “He is my best friend! Something must be influencing him! Please! You have to believe me! Don’t… don't kill him, I beg you. Sombra would never enslave the ponies within the Empire, this isn’t him! Please… I just want my friend back.”
“Thy words matter not,” I growled, glaring down at her for daring to defend this monster. Vengeance was due and I intended to deliver it. Nopony hurts my family and friends and gets away with it… nopony. “We shall slay this foul villain and avenge Amore if it is the last thing we shall do.”
“Don’t take our sister’s words at face value, she does not know what wrathful words she is spouting in her grief,” Celestia spoke up while giving me a disappointed look. “We shall have words with thee later, Summer.”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to be the merciful one in this, Celestia,” I whispered to her, an angry snort escaping my nostrils. “You know as well as I that what he did is treason against the crown and he continues to enslave her ponies! I will not stand idly by, not with him still alive and breathing. I will be taking his head! He is a cold-hearted murderer, sister! He deserves to be brought to justice for his crimes against ponykind!”
“I know, dear. But you are scaring poor Hope. Look at her,” she told me and I looked at the quivering mare, terror in her eyes. As we met gazes, the young mare flinched back as if she expected me to lash out at her again. My ears splayed back and I muttered my apologies to her for scaring her so horribly.
“Rest assured, Radiant Hope, we shall encroach on Sombra’s territory and right this wrong,” Luna said, something that rarely happened during court nowadays. “We shall see what we can do to bring Sombra back to sanity. Should we fail to do so, thou hast our condolences in advance.”
“I…"—Radiant Hope hesitated before nodding her head demurely, grateful for the promise—"Thank you, Your Highnesses,” she mumbled with a sniffle. She wiped away her tears with an embroidered hoofkerchief my sister offered to her before trying to give it back to her (my sister let her keep it, though). “That is all I can ask of you, I suppose.”
“Then let us depart immediately in that case,” Celestia said and she called for the captain of the guard to meet us in the courtyard. “Thou art welcome to stay here or come with us, Hope. We won’t keep thee from trying to help thy friend.”
“I think I will come with you, Princess Celestia,” Hope said, scuffing her hoof on the ground nervously. Her eyes held a haunted but resolved quality in them. “Even if I only feel like watching you confront him from a distance, at most. I don’t think I can face him on my own. At least… not while he is like this. I've never seen him so hateful, it's like he is a completely different pony.”
“Very well,” my twin said, a stony look in her eyes, and together, we left our thrones to ready our soldiers for battle.
Shield Wall, our captain of the guard, was already present and ready to mobilize our elite troops within the hour. We were taking quite a sizeable number of ponies with us. Not for the sake of fighting Sombra himself, but to deal with the obstacles in the way. I had no doubt things would end up being more complex and harder than we anticipated, requiring us to be extra cautious. Thankfully, Shield Wall was the perfect pony for the job.
The stoic stallion was screaming at the soldiers to move faster so we could get moving, his golden eyes demanded nothing less than absolute compliance. He had a naturally white coat that let him blend in with the rest of the soldiers in their enchanted armor. His own armor looked a bit more fanciful than the standard one to denote his rank. Despite protocol demanding to always be fully suited up, he wasn’t wearing his helmet at the moment, so his deep blue hair was free to wave in the breeze.
He had earned his position through skill alone, not because of his noble heritage. Something he was quite proud of (and he didn’t let that cloud his judgment in the slightest, he was a true paragon of ponykind). I was glad that he would be leading the force that would go and liberate the slaves from Sombra’s grasp, his shields were some of the hardest in the world to break through (even with our alicorn powers, my sisters and I would have major troubles trying to break through them without also annihilating everything past it).
Shield Wall did one last round of inspecting the carriages, as well as the supplies, before giving us the go-ahead that everything was ready and accounted for.
The pegasi-drawn carriages were specialized for getting deployed in zones of conflict and would no doubt come in handy liberating Amore's ponies from that tyrant. Those and the emergency rations our medics packed, as well. It was inevitable that some of them would need medical attention and a good, warm meal. The only thing we sorely lacked was a psychologist to help them with their trauma.
Meanwhile, my sisters and I would be the ones that were going to dethrone a tyrant. The thought of what Sombra did was making the roaring flame of my alicorn magic flare up again, the righteous fury demanding blood and nothing less. If Celestia had not been there with me, I’m sure I would have already taken off on my wings to confront the bastard on my own. Without her comforting wing holding me back, I would be hard-pressed at keeping the raging emotions within me in check.
This was a darkness that I desperately tried not to give in to, but then there was the smallest part within me that wanted to just let it in until there weren’t even ashes left of the stallion that had dared to take my best friend away from me. I couldn't forgive the cold-hearted murder of a pony that was a shining beacon of love and kindness around the world, I just couldn't. Without Amore, the Empire would never be the same again.
Who would take care of the crystal ponies, now that Amore was gone? My sisters and I had our hooves full with Equestria as it was. After we liberated the Crystal Empire (and we will liberate them, there was no questioning that), there would be nopony suited for the task. Radiant Hope might have been an option, but as it stood right now, she was in no position to focus on what was truly important while she was such an emotional mess. And I didn't make it better for her with my own attitude, consumed by rage as I was.
If it weren't for my sister, I… I don't know what I might be capable of doing. Celestia was my rock, keeping me steady and true to my ideals of kindness and generosity, even though it was so very hard. Selfishness and hatred wanted to take their dark roots within me, corrupting me into a mockery of what I stood for. My wife was the sole reason that that didn’t happen to me. She kept me true to myself. Without Tia… who would I be?
All my life, I clung to my twin to keep myself from breaking down, and now I couldn't exist without her by my side. Both Tia and Luna, my sweet little Moon. They were my strength and weakness, for better or for worse.
As much as I hated myself for it, these feelings were a part of myself. I only needed to acknowledge them, though. They do not define me and I would never let them guide my hoof.
One thing was for sure, though, and that was the fact that we would bring down Sombra and make him face justice for his crimes. The only thing remaining was the question of how he could ever repent sufficiently enough for his evil deeds. What kind of punishment was right and just for somepony that cruelly turned an innocent pony into a crystal statue and shattered her?
My sisters and I flew ahead of our guards, leading them as rulers should. Every one of our ponies looked to us for guidance in the coming conflict and we would stand tall, showing them that we were worthy of their loyalty. Something that Celestia valued above everything else, of that, I had no doubt.
She took to the idea of loyalty the most in Starswirl’s teachings on how to rule a nation. For her, it was abhorrent to even think of betraying our ponies and it was most likely the reason why she wanted to bring Sombra to justice for having betrayed the trust Amore had placed in him.
I just wanted him to suffer for eternity, but that was the dark side of me speaking out in grief. Banishment or imprisonment was the (somewhat) merciful option here, I knew that very much. And while I wanted to let my emotions decide what his punishment would be, I would probably... stay true to my damn bleeding heart and offer him a chance at redemption despite my misgivings.
Everypony deserved a second chance, after all. Even a murderer, as loath as I was to admit such a thing to myself. Radiant Hope and Amore must have seen something in him that explained why they believed he could be saved from himself and it was that thought that made me want to try and do what Amore failed to do.
Somewhere within that black heart of his is a little light trying to reach out in the hopes of salvation, a light that told me that Sombra could be redeemed, a little light that desperately struggled to be seen. Nopony was born a monster, something must have triggered this change. Something evil and sinister, that much I was certain of.
It was that force, this evil, that my fury was directed at. Magic had told us that it brought us here for a reason. Dark forces were rising, that was what it said, wasn’t it? Forces that wanted to plunge this world into darkness and trap it into a nightmarish facsimile of what it was right now. This world should be a place of happiness and love, not one where it gets swallowed up by hatred and war.
Not like Earth. I swore to myself I would not let it end up like Earth, where the only thing keeping the peace was the threat of mutual extinction. Even then, Earth was plagued with conflict, and people thought they could exploit their fellow humans even after the war. That is a prime reason why I wanted to distance myself from the idea of ever having been a ‘naked ape’ in the first place, despite what I had told Tia.
She was right, of course. She always was, she just knew me too well. Ponies were so much more than what I ever was on Earth and I wanted to live by their example.
But every race has its bad apples, it seems. Sombra was one of those, sadly. As long as the chance was there of bringing him back from the brink of the dark abyss in his heart, I would take it. I couldn’t let my thinking as a human stop me from doing what was right. I had to think like a pony, something I was all too happy to embrace. I can’t let him turn out like those monsters that instigated the Great War.
The Bloody Empress of the East, hell-bent on subjugating the people of her nation, taking their every right to think for themselves. She came dangerously close to conquering the entirety of the Asian continent in her mad attempt to bring about an Empire of loyal puppets. Everyone that resisted her was swiftly dealt with, earning her the name of the Bloody Empress.
The Greedy Baron. One of the most despicable men to have ever lived that threw the American Dream in the dirt and trampled all over it. As long as he could make a profit, he would side with anyone. He was the ticket to the West for the Bloody Empress and together they wrecked unimaginable horror on the world.
The Ice Queen of Europe. Her quest to destroy creativity in its entirety almost cost humanity every bit of culture from bygone ages. Her hatred for art was perhaps the worst thing that was born from the Great War. Not only did she bring death and despair wherever she went, but she also destroyed everything that made the world a brighter place to live in.
And lastly, the Warlord of the South. His only goal was to end as many lives as he could and the Bloody Empress was all too happy to help him in his damned cause. He was the one that was responsible for the highest death toll during the Great War. He was also the one that was the first to fall, thankfully. Had he been left to his devices for even longer, I shudder to think what would have been left of the world. Of humanity.
But the greatest tragedy that humanity had to witness during that time? It was the petty way each one of them ‘abandoned ship’ once they realized that humanity wasn’t so easily broken and subjugated.
They launched nuclear warheads on their own capitals. They, the worst examples that humanity has ever borne witness to, were despicable monsters through and through. A last cry of defiance from their misguided beliefs because they failed to bring humanity to its knees.
I couldn’t let Sombra turn out like those four. We needed to deal with him and if that meant resorting to less favorable methods..? I would do so. I have to do so.
Even with the questionable morality of brainwashing being good if it meant saving the rest of ponykind. Hopefully, there is a way to make Sombra see that what he was doing was wrong without resorting to such methods. And if there was no way to make that happen, it would be a kindness to... change a few memories here and there to bring him back into the light.
Was it abhorrent that I thought this was okay? Resorting to using the manipulation of the mind was a thing that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Or even be considered in the first place, but so was resorting to murder. This was kinder to everypony involved, as much as it made me hate myself.
I... I think I might be turning into a dictator. Forcefully taking away the freedom of ponies for the sake of kindness... it was dangerously close to being a dictator, wasn’t it? A benevolent dictator, that's what I was. And... somehow it felt like it was what I should be.
That was a weird thing, I thought queasily. The thought of being a benevolent dictator or tyrant, forcing my ideals on others for the sake of the good in their souls that I knew existed somewhere. It should bother me more, but my heart was of a different opinion than my brain.
And my brain was losing the battle against my heart thinking this wasn’t a bad thing. Being a benevolent dictator was better than the alternative of letting me become a murderer in turn. And... it wasn’t like I was going to end up like the Bloody Empress, right? I would never leave somepony a mere puppet so that I could toy with them as if they weren’t living beings. Forcing somepony into a future that was good for them wasn’t bad... right? I shook my head, telling myself I was doing the right thing because sometimes, a pony just needs to be forcefully given kindness. Besides, trying to save Sombra with mind magic was better than... killing him, or something equally as bad.
Was I... perhaps overzealous with this? I... I might become just as bad as the Bloody Empress just for different reasons. She represented the absolute worst darkness that had plagued Earth. Me, on the other hoof? I might fall into the trap of thinking the side of the light could possibly do no wrong.
A pure light. It was just as bad as pure darkness, wasn’t it? I... I couldn’t allow myself to be either. I needed to find a balance. A harmony between both sides. Neither too good, as much as it pains me to think like that, and not too bad, as much as I thought Sombra deserved eternal torment.
Being a benevolent dictator was perhaps the best middle ground I could find to achieve this balance, this harmony between light and dark.
Yes... that’s the perfect solution, wasn’t it? Nothing could go wrong with that. I just had to believe in that and hope that it would be the best choice to take. Like the choice of... meddling with the memories of Sombra in order to save him from himself. It was the best choice. I couldn’t doubt that, lest I start to entertain the thought of resorting to the same methods that those four monsters on Earth had used.
Although, there was a teeny tiny problem with me... not knowing any spell that would allow me to alter his persona back to the state where he hadn’t decided to turn to the darkness. That was more Luna’s forte with her dream walking abilities.
I needed a plan and I knew which pony would enact it. If Luna could help me by forcing Sombra’s mind open for us, we could rewrite parts of his memories in order to make him see that he was on the wrong side.
We would have to somehow subdue him for a short period of time, preferably without killing him in the process. Should Luna’s unique gift of putting ponies to sleep be effective on him, it should give us that opportunity.
Then, we would need to find the cause of this corruption within him and purge it from him. It all depends on us being able to do so, though. If this was of a magical nature, I’m not so sure even Tia would know what to do.
Only after we failed with trying to save him from himself would I consider taking more drastic measures. And those options were perhaps crueler than erasing parts of himself or rewriting them, even killing him would be more merciful. Isolation within imprisonment would perhaps prove to drive him even madder than he already was now.
Forever damned to be alone, that’s not something I would wish on my worst enemies. Never seeing a living soul again, only having your thoughts there with you to try and keep your sanity together. For however long the rest of your life was going to be, it would be spent with no social contact at all.
That is what I would resort to before putting him out of his misery. I was against having to kill another living soul capable of higher thoughts (griffons are an exception to that rule, though. Fuck griffons, they tried to kill my wife), but this option was dangerously close to killing a pony without actually killing them. One could already be considered practically dead as soon as the sentence started.
And I would make sure he wouldn’t be able to escape from his sentence, should it come down to us needing to do this. Anything less would be a cruelty to the ponies he enslaved and killed. Anything less would be a disservice to her memory.
Sombra refused the kindness of Amore, and I would only give him that one chance to take my reluctant show of mercy.
I exchanged my plan with my sisters as we neared the Crystal Empire, telling them what I wanted them to do and accepting Celestia’s proposal of letting her fight with Luna if it came to it. While I wanted to help them and was perfectly capable of keeping myself from getting killed in the heat of battle, her main concern was more about the question if I could keep myself from taking revenge on him, instead.
Perhaps that was a wise decision as we finally saw just what Sombra had done to the once-vibrant city-state. Tall spires of darkened crystals stood tall while the once lush crystal shine of the ponies we saw in heavy chains was dull and faded.
It was like he had sapped the happiness and love out of them. Everywhere I looked, they continued to do some kind of work that we didn’t know the purpose of. Whatever they were digging for, it couldn’t be anything good and we needed to keep Sombra from reaching it.
One reason for their crushed spirits was the obvious theft of the Crystal Heart. The weather barrier was absent and were it not for the sickly flames dotting the landscape in a looming sinister presence, the Empire would have surely frozen over already.
But perhaps the most crushing reason for their suffocating despair wasn’t the absence of the Crystal Heart or the oppressive pillars of dark gleaming crystals towering over the city-state like grim reminders that the pony behind all this was constantly watching for any disobedience whatsoever.
The ponies working without rest had to do so next to those that had already succumbed to fatigue and couldn’t continue on. That also sadly meant that those unfortunate souls had to watch as their friends and family died around them and were simply left to rot next to them while they were forced to continue to work by the few enforcers that ensured they did their work without pause.
I had no idea how Sombra could have convinced those crystal ponies to work for him, instead. The armor they wore looked cruel and one couldn’t even see their faces underneath their helmets, turning them into eerie marionette-like ponies that watched on with glowing eyes that never blinked. They could have come straight out of a horror movie for all I knew.
Whatever the outcome of this conflict with that... that despicable monster... would be, I would ensure the ponies of the Crystal Empire recovered from this. Somehow. Could a pony recover from the sheer horror they had to live through here? The trauma of this experience might prove to be too much for the next few generations and it only further managed to stoke the raging flames of my alicorn magic, trying to lash out as I desperately tried to keep a leash on it.
If I let go of my control... would anything be left by the end of it?
Celestia told Shield Wall to take his soldiers with him to liberate the poor crystal ponies from their bindings once we gave the signal. We would be luring Sombra out and away from the civilians for them to get them to safety, instead. My sisters and I would take no chances of them getting hurt while we tried to enact our plan with Sombra.
“Are you ready, Luna?” Celestia asked, turning to look at our little sister. Luna merely nodded in a solemn mood, her sword at her side. She looked... sort of conflicted with what we saw. “And you, Summer?”
“As I’ll ever be,” I answered while breathing out a last shaky breath before steeling myself. This was it, no turning back. This either ended with us victorious or with us rotting in the cold icy wastes. No mistakes could be made on our part. Should we fail, the rest of the world would be paying the hefty price.
I just know Starswirl is going to reprimand us for not even telling him we went after Sombra. The old coot never took us with him to the more dangerous missions we knew he went on, despite him trying to hide it from our curious selves. He... probably did it for a good reason, too. Surely he wouldn’t be struggling so much with his emotions...
“Remember what we agreed on, Summer,” she told me sternly and I nodded with a roll of my eyes. We went over this a dozen times already on the way over here. “Only if Luna fails to put him to sleep for her to guide you into his mind will we resort to banishing him with the spell to seal him away in the ice. And you won’t kill him.”
“Yes, yes. Luna and I will combine our magic with yours while you work your spellcraft,” I mumbled for the nth time within the past hour or so. “Can we get started now? Shield Wall and the guards already look like they are wondering why we are taking so long.”
“Let me talk to him first,” Celestia pleaded with me. “Have him try to defend himself before we decide to do anything. There could be something we are missing, something that would give us the bigger picture.”
“He killed Amore, there is little for him that would make his reasoning justified, sister,” I growled. “If she wasn’t trying to kill him first, there is nothing he could say that would prove him innocent in this. And look at what he has done with the Empire already, this does not scream innocent to me!”
“Be that as it may, we should still hear him out just to get his side of the story first, Summer,” Luna said, looking sadly at me. “It would have been something I would have appreciated from you and Tia for those sixteen years you left me in the dark.”
“We can talk about this after we’re done here,” Celestia sighed. “I’m glad you’re at least speaking to us again, Lulu.”
“Yes, well...” Luna mumbled, looking forlornly down as her voice was filled with shame. “I think this has opened my eyes about keeping a grudge. And from lying to myself...”
“You mean..?” I whispered, a hopeful flutter in my chest.
My sister looked to the side, scuffing a hoof over the ground as she struggled with herself. “I’d… rather not talk about this here, Summer,” Luna said, evading my question for now. It wasn't an outright evasion, though. Her words did imply she wanted to reach out to us and mend the broken bridge between us. “Let’s get this done first, as Tia has said.”
“Okay...” I said, not really knowing how to respond to her seemingly confessing her feelings to us. I mean, that was what she meant by 'lying to herself', right? Please, let it be so, I want this so badly… I want my sister back. I want to see where this would lead. I want to know what I missed out on by never reciprocating her feelings like that in our past life. But that was for another time. Right now, I better make sure we come out on top to have that conversation, in the first place.
Together we gave the signal to our soldiers to start with their assigned mission while we headed for the oppressive monolith in the center of the city. And, as we neared the mockery of this once beautiful place that this Empire was, we saw Sombra leave his position on the balcony facing the main road.
The stallion looked... unlike anything of what a pony should look like. His deep black mane waved around in the ethereal breeze in a way that reminded me of a flame. The armor he wore looked sharp and cruel, as did his horn. That was perhaps the most striking thing on him besides the eerie glow from his eyes. The thing curved upwards into a very sharp point, fading from smoky black at the base to sinister red at the tip. The thing about it, though, was that it lacked the usual spiral of a unicorn’s horn, making it... unnaturally smooth. I only caught a glimpse of his eyes, but what I saw made a shiver run through my spine.
Hate... Pure. Unrestrained. Hate. The sickly green sclera of his eyes told a thousand words about his state of mind, spoke of an unending hunger for power, and gave us a small insight into the corruption plaguing him so thoroughly. The red iris and purple mist floating away from the corner of his vision further proved to us that he might be too far gone.
This was the result of the dark allure of forbidden magic. It had ensnared him completely in his grasp like a vice, whispering shady truths or half-truths into his mind. The corrupting effect of dark magic was something no mortal could ever withstand, once you were in its trap it wouldn’t so easily let you go.
What could have made him resort to this kind of foul magic, I wonder? Was the pain from the Crystal Heart really enough to drive him so mad that he sought to destroy all light in the world for the rest of eternity? He could have just left the Empire if it caused him such discomfort, he didn’t have to resort to this.
He didn’t have to become this mockery of a pony. He didn’t have to kill Amore. This was the choice of a coward, taking the path of darkness over the path to salvation.
My sisters and I found him in the throne room, and even this place wasn’t spared from the bitterness in his heart. The throne itself upon which he sat was throwing its dark and vicious shadows over the rest of the room, changing this place that was once filled with happiness and love into a wicked display of hatred and fear.
I stared at the impossible hole in the middle of the throne room, descending further than what should have been physically possible. Stairs ran along the edges of it, spiraling down into an inky darkness. If I had to guess, whatever was at the bottom of this staircase would lead to the thing he wanted to hide most from everypony while at the same time always having it within his sight as he sat on his stolen throne. I would also bet all my money on it being the hiding place of the Crystal Heart.
“The oh so glorious Princesses of Equestria come to dethrone me, how predictable. Here to vanquish the King of Monsters, the true Heir of the Umbrum? That’s what you do best, is it not? Get rid of all the monsters threatening your ponies? I can’t say that this is a surprise,” Sombra’s deep and spiteful voice rang out mockingly in a whisper of malicious intent. “Do you like what I have done with this place? I think it suits this Empire more than the painful glare of bright colors you so enjoy. You have no idea what dirty little secrets I have uncovered within that dark pit.”
“We have come to liberate the crystal ponies under your tyranny, Sombra. What has possibly made you think that this is what is right?” Celestia told him, stomping down on the ground as she glared at him. “Have you been driven so mad that you can’t see your own cruelty?”
“Oh, I’m perfectly sane, ‘Princess’,” he said with a sneer, chuckling sinisterly. “My eyes have been opened by the ones that have brought me into this world. Amore was the true monster here and I will cleanse this realm of her stain and free my imprisoned kin. You won’t stop me.”
“We will see about that,” my sister snorted. “I see you won’t accept a peaceful solution then, but that doesn’t mean we won’t stop trying to make you see reason. Luna, now!”
Luna’s eyes blazed brightly as she called forth her alicorn power, gleaming white tendrils of moonlight spiraling up her horn as she said a single word. Sleep. And the stallion before us was powerless to stop her as he tried to reach us before she could do anything to him. Sombra fell to the ground in a heap, fast asleep and unable to fight back against what was about to follow.
Celestia used her magic to transport all of us out in a brilliant flash of light and we reappeared in the snow-covered wastes close to the Crystalline Mountains, far away so that he couldn’t cause any trouble for our soldiers if he were to wake up.
“Place your horn on his forehead, sister,” Luna told me and I nodded. “Celestia will keep us from harm’s way should he awaken before we can accomplish our task while I will keep you safe within his mind.”
“Okay,” I said, my heart thumping wildly in my chest. I filled my lungs with a deep breath in anxiety and placed the tip of my spiraling horn on his head. My little sister stepped up beside me and placed hers next to mine as it brightened considerably.
Then, not a moment later, I stood underneath a dark stormy cloud as biting winds tore through the frigid air around me. I shivered, absentmindedly noting the alien feeling of coldness as my fiery aura was absent within this place. Luna appeared right next to me, her own icy aura not there to protect her against the low temperatures.
A dark and obviously evil voice spoke up in the distance and both Luna and I turned to see the source of the vicious tone. We could already tell from the distance that an uncorrupted Sombra stood in front of a deep red crystal jutting out of the snow, appearing to talk to somepony not physically present.
Deciding to get a bit closer, we listened as the being trapped behind the crystal told him what he was. An umbrum. A shadow pony, a creature of malevolence and smoke. The antithesis to the crystal ponies and their love-filled hearts. He was the complete opposite of what a pony was, a dark creature of contempt and death.
Sombra tried to deny the words of what we learned was his so-called ‘mother’, something I seriously doubted was entirely true. They didn’t share a bond of kinship just because she brought him into this world, this was a manipulative being out to bring eternal darkness upon everything I held dear.
We saw what happened to make Sombra into the stallion that we confronted in the throne room. A bolt of sickly purple magic struck him and infected his very magic, unlocking a part that had been sealed away since he was found out in the blizzard all those years ago.
“This is the moment we need to alter, sister,” I said, looking on in horror as Sombra embraced his new self as he turned into a shadowy creature of nightmares and fear. “This is exactly what we need to change.”
“I will do my best,” Luna said, just as disturbed as I was at the sight. “I will need your assistance, though.”
“Alright, what should I do?” I asked her. My sister explained to me that she would use her magic while I would be the one to provide new images to replace the ones we had seen.
As Luna started to power up her horn, something different happened, though. We were thrown out of the memory entirely while a cruel laugh rang out all around us.
“Did you think I would not notice your intrusion?” Sombra asked, amused. “Did you think I would be defenseless like this?!”
“Show yourself!” I cried out, searching the dark expanse around me for any sign of movement. Luna was in a heap, the backlash from being interrupted in her spellcasting too much for her. “Come on, Luna! We have to get out of here, snap out of it! I need your help, sister!”
Sombra merely continued to laugh and I was at a complete loss as to what I should do. Dream magic wasn’t my forte and this kind of dream came with risks I did not dare to imagine. If we weren’t careful, we could be hurt here and our bodies out in the waking world would pay the price.
Magic like this was dangerous in more ways than one. We literally risked brain damage by doing this and we underestimated our opponent. Starswirl was right. We weren't ready for these kinds of tasks.
“A door once opened...” Sombra cackled wickedly and in the next moment, I was on my own.
I looked around in confusion, standing in the throne room back in our castle.
“What are you doing here?” Celestia called out and I spotted her entering the room behind me. On her face was a glare, a furious gaze I had never been on the receiving end of her. My ears splayed back on my head.
“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering what was going on. “I don’t even remember why I am here in the first place. W-what is going on?”
“You have a lot of nerve, returning here after everything you did!” Tia screamed, a snarl showing on her lips. “I told you I didn’t want to ever see you again! You are no sister of mine, monster.”
“What?!” I cried out, not comprehending the sudden and weird change in the behavior of my twin and lover. “What did I do?!”
“You...” Celestia growled hatefully. “You dare mock me like this?!"
Fearfully, I shuffled back from her approaching figure. "I don't understand! I'm not trying to mock you, sister!"
Celestia scoffed as heat shimmered through the air surrounding her. "You know perfectly well what it is that you did, traitor! Stop pretending you don’t know anything about what you have done to Luna!”
“Luna?" I whispered fearfully, a pit forming in my stomach. I don't like where this was going. “What happened to her? Is she alright?”
Celestia flew into a rage as her mane and coat burst into flames with the power of the sun, and she was perfectly willing to attack me with her full might. Not knowing what I should do, I dodged to the side with a squeak as I scrambled away from the furious strikes my sister sent my way.
I tried to get her to tell me what was wrong, why she was so mad at me, but Tia only got even more enraged at me for 'daring to fake ignorance'. What was it that I have forgotten? Something that Luna must have been involved in, clearly.
There was only one answer that came to me, but I didn’t want to acknowledge that possibility. In no way could my own sister be... I couldn’t even think of it. Thinking it might make it real. I feared that damnable thought, I tried to distract myself with anything but the horrible thing I wanted to avoid thinking about so much.
Avoiding the blows from my wife, I wondered why she wasn’t using her magic to get to me. It didn’t make any sense. Celestia relied on her magic for everything, there was no way she wouldn’t be using it.
I squeaked out a pained shriek as her wing grazed my ear, cutting slightly into it. I whimpered as I felt the wound immediately get cauterized at the same time. My Celestia wouldn’t ever do this to me. Why couldn’t I remember what happened between us?! Where was Luna when I really needed her?
“You killed her!”
Her words hammered into my skull like a sledgehammer. That couldn’t be true, I refuse to believe it.
“You let Sombra rip her mind to shreds!”
I let out a cry of denial, trying to shake away her words.
“You left her to fend for herself like the stupid coward that you are!”
I let out a sob. Was it true? Did I really abandon my own baby sister?
“It's all your fault!”
It was my fault. Mine. All mine. I wasn’t there to help her. Luna was dead because I abandoned her. I was the one responsible for her death. My fault. Mine.
All my fault.
I was a monster, abandoning my own baby sister.
She was dead because of me. Luna died while I was too much of a coward to help her. Celestia was right. She always was. She was right. It’s my fault.
I let Sombra kill my sister because I wasn’t strong enough. I was the one that abandoned her. It was my fault. Mine. Sombra killed her, but it was my fault. I wasn’t there to help her.
I wasn’t there to defend my sweet little sister. It was my fault. Mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
MY FAULT! MINE!
I let out a crazed laugh, rolling on the ground in tears. I felt Tia cut into me and I relished in the punishment because I deserved it. I deserved every last bit of it. I cried and laughed, hysterical sobs escaping me as I couldn’t deny the truth anymore. I was responsible for Luna's death and I needed to atone for my terrible sins.
Luna’s memory deserved nothing less.
I needed to accept that I was a bad pony. I was a very bad pony. I was perhaps the worst one to have ever lived. Abandoning my own baby sister in her greatest time of need… I deserved to suffer for eternity.
A small part of my mind wondered why I wasn’t dead yet. Celestia should have killed me already, there was no way she would be so cruel as to torture me for longer than what was necessary. She should have already been done with me. She wouldn’t toy around with me like this, right?
I laughed and cried. Laughed and cried.
A midnight blue hoof slapped me across my muzzle and I looked at the appendage, puzzled at the color. It was wrong. Celestia’s hoof wasn’t midnight blue. Since when was Tia’s hoof midnight blue?
My eyes trailed up slowly in confusion. Why had Celestia stopped torturing me? I was a bad filly, I needed to be punished. Mine. My fault. Mine. I was a monster. Sombra killed Luna and I let him. Her blood was on my hooves. Mine.
Kind turquoise eyes stared at me, tears in them. That's weird. It's all wrong. Celestia had pale magenta eyes. Why were her eyes turquoise now? It's my fault. I killed Luna. All my fault. Mine alone.
A mad bout of laughter escaped my lips as Celestia’s voice sounded like Luna’s. I was seeing and hearing things, I had to. My sister was dead, after all. And it was my fault. Mine. I was a monster. A traitorous piece of scum.
And my mind broke. It totally and utterly broke into thousands of pieces, my maddened laughter was all that was left of me. Nothing was more important now. Nothing but laughter and tears.
This was my punishment, for whatever crime I had committed. I’m sure I deserved it, though. It was my fault. Mine. Mine! All mine! Mine alone!
Laugh, little mare! Laugh! Laugh and laugh and laugh! Cry... let your tears flow. Cry, and cry, and cry. Cry, you piece of garbage! Let those tears burn you as you laugh, you despicable traitor! Cry until there won't be more tears to shed! Laugh until your sides hurt and you can breathe no more! It was all I knew how to do, so I did. And why shouldn’t I? Laugh… laugh! It was all my fault! Cry… cry! The fault was all mine, ah hah ha ha!
I felt like there was... something wrong with this hysteric need to cry and laugh, but… it felt so good to laugh and cry and laugh while crying. The fault was mine, after all. Whatever I did, I was responsible for it. It was my fault alone and I needed to be punished for it. Yes. Yes~! I needed to be punished~!
“Snap out of it!” the mare in front of me shouted at me and like a fog being lifted, my mind was clear again. I saw the truth. My eyes had been opened. Sombra. He did this to me. It was his fault, not mine. And I would deliver his sentence. There was nowhere he could hide from me.
Fury rose within me and my coat turned from white to yellow and then to a light orange. It glowed with righteous anger and my mane and tail ignited with hatred for the stallion at the root of all evil.
I gnashed my sharp teeth together as the need to destroy burned within me. A flame escaped my nostrils as I snorted out a hot breath of air. The mare in front of me looked on in horror as I grinned toothily like a shark. Oh, yes. Punishment was due, indeed~. I let out an enraged whinny, rearing up with one swift movement and stomping my hooves on the false ground equally as fast. As my hooves connected with a titanic might, I shattered it.
“Sombra, you coward!" I bellowed out in fury. My breath came out in ragged grunts, my vision clouded in red. I saw the bastard try to flee from me as he sped away in the dark mist-like form of his true self.
Nopony escapes my wrath...
With a snarl on my muzzle, I took to the air with a mighty flap of my wings, not even noticing the shockwave I caused with the sudden movement. He won't find a hiding place on this planet that I couldn't find, that I swore to myself.
After all, what was a shadow to the blazing sun? I would show him the folly of his judgment, a vicious laugh escaping me as I ensnared him in blistering tendrils of solar magic, cooking his flesh as he thrashed around, screaming in agony. And I couldn’t get enough of his screams, they were oh-so delightful to hear~.
He wanted to rip my mind apart, and he managed to do it. What he didn’t count on though, was that I would do something even worse to him. I cackled wickedly as his fur was almost completely burned away, charring the skin a crispy black. In some spots, I could already see the sizzling muscles, and the smell made my mouth water with anticipation.
I absentmindedly noticed we weren’t in the dream realm anymore, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. He needed to be punished. Sombra was too much of a threat to be kept alive.
The rat needed to die and I was ready to do what was necessary. I would deliver the ultimate punishment a pony like him deserved.
He has to die. And I am going to cackle all the way until I am sure he was so thoroughly dead, even his soul was torn into pieces. There won’t be anything left of him once I was done with him.
A figure tackled me, ripping me out of the sky and causing us to fall to the ice below. The snow melted away in no time and the water around us began to bubble as it began to boil, melting even more ice in the process.
“Stop this, sister! What madness is this?! Look at yourself!” the pony before myself cried out, but I just cackled more in my delusional state. He wasn’t dead yet, I wouldn’t stop just because this foolish mare thought she could stand in my way.
I was a monster. And a monster hunts for prey. Nothing would keep me from it. Not even this nuisance of a distraction. What did she even think she would accomplish by doing this, huh? Make me see reason? Please, don't make me laugh.
I had but one purpose now, and that was the end of all wickedness. I needed to rip, tear, and rend the flesh off of Sombra’s bones. It was my purpose, my destiny. I was the Fallen Star, Bringer of Destruction, punisher of all evil. And I relished the feeling of this overwhelming power. Then, after he was but a stain on the ground, I would devour what was left of his soul and ensure he would never return.
The thought excited me and I couldn’t wait to do so. I wondered what a soul would taste like and I cackled once more gleefully in anticipation. I’m sure it would be unlike anything I could ever imagine.
“Sister, please! Summer, come back to me! This isn’t you!” she wept, the water around us evaporating away as we reached the ground beneath the layer of ice. “SUMMER, STOP!”
“...Summer?” I asked, snorting in confusion. This mare was getting on my nerves, standing in my way like this. Who does she think she is? “I don't know who the fuck you are talking about, but you need to get out of my way. Now. Before you will regret it”
“What?” she whispered out in horror. “Summer, don’t joke like this.”
“Stop calling me that,” I snorted with a snarl, struggling to push her away from me. She was surprisingly strong, I have to give it to her. “Let go of me now or I will make you. I have a pony to kill. I won't rest until I devour his wretched soul and make sure he won’t ever be able to return.”
“Please,” this stupid mare cried out. “Remember your promise?”
A sharp tone pierced my skull as she said that and I winced. “What? A promise? I... there was a promise... I had one with somepony... important. I need to… keep it… for some reason. It was… it was… Urgh…” I mumbled out confused, a painful twinge piercing my insides. I shook my head, trying to make the pain go away, but the tinnitus got even worse. I snarled in anger as my thoughts felt sluggish. “What was it? I can’t remember...”
“You promised me that you wouldn’t let your grief and rage cloud your judgment, Summer. My sweet Sunshine. Please, remember. For me.”
My heart stopped as she called me that damnable name again, that last phrase sending a lance of pure agony through my insides. Why does she keep calling me like that?! Why does she seem so familiar to me?
I was overtaken by surprise as a tender kiss was placed on my lips. Her muzzle felt so soft and tender, and before I knew it, a moan escaped me as funny things started happening to my body. What the hell was she doing to me?! I needed to… punish the wickedness… out of… Sombra…
Another moan left my muzzle as her tongue prodded me and I felt an entirely different kind of heat blossoming within me, traveling towards my stomach and further down below. Blood rushed to one point only and the sensation distracted me from the pain I felt previously. I had no idea how to feel about this as this mare evoked all these strange feelings inside of me, and then she dared to press her tongue past my lips. For some strange reason, though, I allowed her entrance into my maw as my breaths became more shallow.
This was confusing. There was a feeling inside me for this mare, something my blackened heart tried so desperately to figure out what it was. It felt warm. Not as warm as my sun, but more comforting. The feeling felt... good. Addicting, even. Heavenly.
Her tongue went over my sharp teeth as if she had never felt something akin to them before. I growled into the kiss, throwing her underneath me in the molten pool of stone as I ravenously explored her own mouth with my slender tongue. Her saliva tasted like sweet sugary nectar to me and I wanted more.
I needed more. The taste was simply divine to my tongue...
My burning mane caressed her cheek in a light touch, not even managing to burn away her fur. I would make her mine, I decided. No other pony beside me had a claim to her.
The fiery orange aura of my celestial magic reached out to my nethers and I felt the transformation take place. I had no idea where I got the spell from, but I would make good use of it. My body demanded it of me.
This mare would cry out in ecstasy as I forced myself on her and she would like every minute of it. She made me feel this strange urge and she would take care of my needs until I could think clearly again. Otherwise, I would have to punish her for her defiance and the audacity to stand in my way. And I was rather reluctant to mar her pretty little head with my hooves. I have rather taken a liking to her divine beauty.
The mare underneath me cried out a moan as I plunged my shaft into her sopping wet snatch without so much as a warning, retreating not a moment later. I nipped her lip as I thrust in and back out, ramming my rod right back into her with a needy growl from my throat. She was tight, but it felt so good around my shaft that I didn’t really care. All I cared about was sating this hunger she inflicted upon me.
I would ravish her until she was a blubbering mess. All thoughts of killing the stallion lying a small distance away from us were forgotten as I had a new purpose now. My heart fluttered in my chest, this confusing feeling returning as I plowed my dick back into the quivering mare underneath me. I had no idea what I was doing, but it seemed to be working. The feeling of need built up more and more, and I knew it would reach a crescendo soon, releasing something from within me to calm me back down in a single flood of pleasure. And then, I could go back to whatever it was I was previously doing.
I groaned as I increased the pace of my thrusts, her walls clenching around me beautifully. I felt pride as she cried out against me with every hammering push I subjected her to. I grinned wickedly as I saw her half-lidded eyes beg me to finish her off and grant her a sweet orgasm of relief.
Lightly nipping her on one of her ears, I pushed in even deeper into her marehood. I let out a self-satisfied laugh as she was left a panting mess and I continued to drive my rod deeper into her while my tip touched the entrance to her inner sanctum lightly, causing her to scream out.
I wasn’t done yet, though. A few more pushes and I would be free of this 'need', I knew it. I retreated all the way back out and then I shoved my dick back in with a titanic thrust. Just as fast as I went in, I brought it back out again. A few more. Only… a few… more! I went back in again, the feeling of sliding within her caused me to shudder more and more. My peak was approaching and I was going to finish no matter what. I needed this to end, and if she dared to rebel against me again, I would make her rue the day she decided to do so.
But before I could continue on further, the other pony tackled me away from her. Snarling, I threw my hooves against the one that took away my conquest. I was so close to finishing what she started, and now the other one kept me from my desired relief?! How dare she.
Fine, then. If I cannot sate this need with the white beauty, then this one will have to do.
The midnight blue mare evaded one blow after another and continued to evade me just as quickly, much to my displeasure. Even the tendrils of solar magic couldn’t reach her, managing to drive me slowly into a frenzy in my attempt to ensnare her.
If she wanted to take me away from my conquest so much, I would force her to satisfy me, instead. I would leave her a blubbering mess so I could finish what I started. I still had a wicked soul to punish. Nothing would keep me away from that. Not this mare. Not the other one. And certainly not this damnable need for relief.
“Return to your senses at once, Summer!” she demanded and I snorted out a puff of flames again as I glared back at her. She just took me away from making the white one mine and she would pay for it. I would ravish her for so long that she would start to bleed. And then… who knows, I might keep her and the other one after I was through with Sombra. “Come on, you idiot! I know you’re in there!”
“You just made the biggest mistake in your life, little mare,” I growled, firing a beam of superheated flames at her. Only for her to throw back a beam of her own, one that canceled out mine with a frigid void.
“I won’t let you fall prey to this madness, sister,” she told me. Her eyes lit up and I watched on curiously, intrigued. “And certainly not impregnate your wife, not like this. This ends now, Summer. You will go to sleep.”
As she said the word sleep, my whole body suddenly lost all of its strength. I fell down to the ground, my eyes closing without my permission as I struggled against her command. What magic was this?! How dare she stand against me?
Before I knew it, my eyelids fell shut and I found myself floating in an empty space of nothingness, left to stew in my rage and the tiny feeling of indignity all by myself. Well, it wasn’t entirely empty. There was a shattered light in the distance and I wondered what it could possibly be. I wanted to reach out to it but ultimately decided against it. Something felt wrong about it and I started to feel afraid for the first time in my life.
A deep, existential terror gripped my heart as I thought about this seemingly innocent bit of light that lay shattered before me. Something told me I wouldn’t like what would happen to me if I were to touch it. A primal feeling of fear over the unknown urged me to get as far away from it as I could.
The darkness was my friend, I decided. I would stay here where it couldn’t reach me. In no way would I trust this thing floating there in front of me.
Too bad I didn’t get to decide that for myself.
The mare that brought me here appeared beside me in a flash of light and before I could let out a raging snarl, images flashed before my eyes as she brought the light from the distance closer to us. Or us closer to it, I couldn’t entirely say for certain.
“Stop hiding in the dark and embrace your true self, Summer,” she told me and slowly I started to recognize her. My fractured mind started to slowly piece itself together and I wanted to empty my gut out as I remembered what I had almost done.
I let myself get consumed by hatred, something I swore I would never let happen to myself.
I had raped my own wife, even though she let me do it. Celestia had initiated the make-out session but I had taken it too far. Had it not been for Luna... there could have been serious consequences. Consequences that could have caused a newborn to live in misery, shunned and alone in a world that would not accept them.
This wasn’t how I wanted to have sex with my wife, not like that. My eyes had viewed her as a mere object to be conquered as I had my way with her. I felt ashamed that I had degraded her so much in my addled state.
Not to mention the thoughts I had held for Luna...
My sister smiled in relief as my coat returned to normal and my mane lost its burning flames. The sharp teeth went back to the flat ones I felt a lot more comfortable with. And with this transformation back into my true self also came the sorrow.
I wept into the arms of my little sister as I felt like I had betrayed myself, her, and Tia. The promise of keeping my raging emotions in check had been broken because I was too weak to see that Sombra had manipulated me.
The feeling of having been used by him made my fur crawl. It might have backfired on his part, but it still felt like he had stained a very part of my soul in the process. I had almost murdered him with a gleeful smile on my muzzle and even considered devouring his flesh and soul. And perhaps worst of all, I had given in to the feelings of possessiveness over Celestia, reducing her to a mere object to be fucked.
I had acted with cruelty and greed, instead of staying true to my ideals of kindness and generosity. The darkness within me had almost desecrated the holy sacredness of life itself. Destroying a soul… it was a perversion of everything I stood for.
My sister comforted me even after she brought me out of my mind into the waking world. Celestia was also there and she didn’t hold anything against me for what I had done to her while I thought of myself as the Fallen Star.
The compassion both of them showed to me was heart-wrenching to me. They showered me with comforting words and hugs, something that I felt I didn’t deserve in a million years. Both of them assured me that it wasn’t my fault, though. I wish I could have believed them, but all I felt was a profound feeling of dirtiness.
Celestia and Luna, my dearest sisters, what would I do without you? If you hadn’t been here to snap me out of it, to what lengths would I have been willing to go to? And at what would I have stopped?
The thought of purging this world of all evil like Sombra flashed before me in my mind. Fallen Star would have claimed this world as impure during our madness, wouldn’t she? She would have gone to erase anything that didn’t fit her vision of a perfect world, I just knew it. And I would have forced my sisters to be mere toys to entertain myself with, wouldn’t I?
She was me, just the darker part. We were two sides of one coin, that much I couldn’t deny. I... I felt scared. Absolutely terrified, even. But at the same time, a traitorous thought popped up within the confines of my mind. I felt disappointed that I didn’t succeed in annihilating Sombra. I still wanted him to suffer for eternity. Afraid and horrified by my own thoughts, I voiced out my concerns to my sisters and they assured me that they wouldn’t let me fall like that again. I wasn't very much inclined to believe them, unable to trust myself ever again. At the same time, though, there was a part of me that felt... sorry for Fallen Star.
She was a product of my rage and grief, born out of hate for something that Sombra did. I wanted to show her that she didn’t have to live with these dark feelings, that there was a better way than that. We didn't have to be this vengeful 'punisher' hunting for the wicked because they deserved to be shown no mercy. We could still do right and be just. Not every criminal was beyond redemption. Sombra, or even Platinum, could have a change of heart later down the line. Who was I to deny them that opportunity to change for the better? I suppose I wanted to prove that to myself first and foremost.
Perhaps, if I ever got the chance, I would set things right. I would embrace Fallen Star as she deserved and show her the right way. Show myself the right way, I guess. It was a little bit confusing explaining this to my sisters, seeing that Fallen Star was literally a part of myself. She was me lost within my own darkness. It was also not helped by the fact that we were suffering through a particularly vicious bout of madness at the same time. Perhaps if I tried turning into her again, things might be different now that I could remember who I was, but… I was afraid. Afraid I would start to rampage all over again.
Both of my sisters were understanding of me with my struggle, much to my surprise. I couldn't fathom how they could possibly empathize with me on this, but I was glad they made the effort to do so. They weren’t the least bit disgusted with me for having wanted to devour his soul. This whole ordeal felt like it somehow brought us closer together as a family, even if I felt like I was a ticking time bomb at the moment.
After they reassured me I wasn't a monster, there was one final question we needed to ask ourselves. Could we really subject Sombra to an icy prison beneath the glaciers? We had no idea if the spell would put him in an actual suspended animation for however long we felt should be necessary.
The answer came surprisingly easy to me. Yes, we could. But even still… “We should still kill him,” the raunchy voice of my darkest feelings spoke out as a little bit of hatred flared up within me, speaking with the voice of my alter-ego. My sisters looked at me aghast and in confusion.
“Sister?” Celestia asked me and I turned my eyes to her. She let out a gasp as she saw my gaze. “Your eyes... they’re like hers.”
“What?” I asked in a whisper, suddenly even more afraid than I was before. The feeling of my inner hatred retreated back from where it came and I shivered, shrinking in on myself. Was I losing my mind? Were Fallen Star and I not so different, after all? I think I might have a problem here...
“Your pupils, they were vertical not a moment ago,” Luna told me. “We should have you looked at when we are back home, Summer. Just to make sure there aren’t any adverse effects from your... little bout of insanity.”
“That’s probably a good idea, I feel like I’m constantly losing my grasp over my own feelings,” I muttered exhaustedly. Although, as I looked down on Sombra, a sneer came to my lips once more as I beheld the damage I inflicted upon him. Hatred and the need to destroy his pathetic existence reared their ugly head from within me, replacing my frazzled emotions with hers again. “He deserves to die, though.”
“Oh, we're definitely going to have a look at you later, sister,” Luna sighed, pity in her eyes as she looked at me. “If this continues on, we need to find a more permanent solution to your condition. This can't go on.”
“I’m sorry, I...” I said, rubbing my eyes as I began to feel the first signs of a headache forming. A growl escaped me unbidden and I tried to desperately keep my emotions in check before I could say anything. Too bad that I had a bad habit of lashing out when I didn’t want to. “It’s not a condition, okay?!”
“Sister...” Celestia chastised me and I wilted slightly at the admonishment, my rage fading as quickly as it came.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that in such a... I didn’t mean to...” I whispered, shaking slightly as I felt like screaming again. The burning rage within my chest threatened to spill out again and this time I managed to shove it away. “It’s… ugh… it's hard trying to rein myself in with him directly in front of me.”
“I understand, Summer,” Celestia told me, nuzzling the side of my head gently. Despite her gesture being comforting, all I felt was shame and disgust at myself. “Luna and I can take care of this if you’re not feeling up to this.”
“No! I... I need to see this through. F-for Amore,” I shot back, almost saying something to her that wasn’t entirely nice and kind. I had to breathe in deeply to calm myself, lest I lash out in frustration again. Come on, Summer. Focus. You can do this. “Let’s make sure he never returns to torment the crystal ponies like he did.”
“Very well,” Celestia sighed and I got the impression she was sad and disappointed in me. Almost like she hoped I would take it easy and return home before I lost it entirely. She… didn't trust me anymore, did she? No, not me. She didn't trust Fallen Star. “If you will, please lend me your magic so I can cast the spell.”
Hesitantly, I nodded, and together with Luna by my side, we poured our celestial magic into our sister, our horns all touching each other. As my twin sent out the multicolored burst of magic towards Sombra, though, we saw him wake up due to the veritable vortex of arcane might whirling around him.
And I wished he had stayed unconscious as he yelled out his last desperate cry of hatred while he was being dragged into a fissure in the glacier we took him to. Sombra’s last curse wrapped around the Crystal Empire, forcing it to disappear as he was enclosed within the deepest depths of ice we could banish him to.
I wept for the guards and ponies we had left behind in the city. Sombra took away thousands of ponies out of spite. I sat there numbly, staring at the spot where the once-great city stood in disbelief. My sisters weren’t better off, I noticed.
The stallion was a despicable monster, dooming an entire Empire because he failed to stay in power. Not even one crystal remained to tell that there had ever been an Empire in the first place. We had only a few things left of Amore and the Empire, chief among them were the flowers she gifted us with as we first met her.
My darker side wanted to break Sombra out of his prison and run my horn through his skull in revenge. I forced myself to calm down, though, taking solace in the fact that I knew Sombra would stay awake during his sentence, trapped in loneliness.
We returned to our castle in the Everfree Forest, feeling like we lost despite our best efforts. Tia, Lulu, and I had searched for Radiant Hope for three hours straight, flying every which way in the hopes of spotting her from the air, but we sadly came up empty-hooved. Wherever she went, she didn’t want to be found and I couldn’t fault her for that. We had failed to save Sombra from himself, and now, her home was gone, too.
Such a failure this mission turned out to be. Not only had we nothing to show for our success, but we also lost good ponies while we were at it. Ponies we swore to protect with our lives should it come down to it.
It taught us a valuable lesson in defeat. Despite everything we might try, we could still fail. We were not infallible to failure just because we had the power of the celestial objects on our side. Despite being so powerful, we would come across problems like these, too. Problems that couldn’t be solved by waving our horns at them and hoping those standing against us would go away.
That lesson was perhaps the cruelest but most needed one that we had ever been taught. Starswirl wasn’t entirely surprised to see us return in such a somber fashion.
To say that he wasn’t pleased with us was understating it so massively, a dust speck would have dwarfed the twin suns, instead. We had to sit through lecture after lecture about not underestimating our foes, not rushing in without a proper plan (and without telling somepony where we went off to), not taking precautions while using mind magic, and so on and so forth.
It took us some time before he even started to consider accepting our apologies for having been ‘dumb, moody teenagers that didn’t know any better’, giving us cartloads full of homework as punishment. After he gave us our punishment and enough lectures to last us a lifetime, we touched upon the more... delicate matters.
It wasn’t entirely tactful of him to try and study me as soon as we recounted the part where I gave in to the darkness in my heart and turned into Fallen Star. I was this close to unleashing my dark half on him just to get away from his mad-scientist schemes, were it not for my sisters.
Sometimes Starswirl could be really insensitive, I swear. I was glad I didn’t turn into Fallen Star just to get rid of the old coot, though. Despite his antics, I do like him very much.
While I was glad that we managed to give the old coot the slip at some point (seriously, he never knew when to stop with some of the things he did...), it didn’t mean that I wouldn’t have to confront my dark side again, though.
“Are you sure this is a wise idea?” I asked my sisters as we settled on the massive bed in Celestia’s chambers. Luna nodded while Tia let out a sigh.
“We need to, Summer,” she told me and I could practically feel the pity she held for me. They were treating me like porcelain again and… I couldn't really fault them for that. “We have to find out the full extent of what this darkness is capable of within you. And perhaps figure out if we could be similarly affected. I… I know I have felt something similar before, to be honest…”
“Okay...” I whispered, taking a deep breath in anxiety. That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, but better now than never, right? "Okay... yeah. Yeah, that... yeah. I, uh... I can do this, no biggie. Nothing bad is gonna happen. Everything is going to be fine. It’s just... a friendly visit, no need to worry. Okay, I… I think I’m ready…"—I let out another breath before fidgeting nervously—" But what if I’m not? Anything can happen! I can’t... I... No! No, I am ready. I won’t chicken out. What's the worst that can happen?”
My sister rolled her eyes exasperatedly as I laughed awkwardly to myself before her horn lit up with moonlight. A moment later, Luna brought us into a shared dreamscape, and we found ourselves in a large, ornate chamber with a... 'special' mirror in the middle. My wife enveloped me in her wings and gave me a reassuring nuzzle, calming me down to the best of her ability and I started to feel a little less nervous just from her presence alone. With her at my side, there was no way anything bad would happen to me.
Still, the presence of that mirror and what it would show felt like it exuded a heavy, oppressive feeling in the chamber around us, and I couldn’t help but tremble a little bit at the prospect of standing in front of it. I wanted to do anything but stand in front of that mental construct my little sister crafted with her dream magic, fearing the existence of it only because I feared what my reflection in it would say. Of what it would do if I was wrong about my gut feeling.
A few reassuring murmurs from my twin chased away those thoughts from where they had come from and I felt my wife give me a tiny nudge, silently telling me that everything was going to be fine and that she wouldn’t go anywhere. It was almost as if Tia took away all of my insecurities and I felt a pleasant warmth spread through me at having her there with me. Both her and Lulu.
Haah. Okay… okay, okay. I could do this. No. I can do this, not could, I corrected myself and with a little bit of trepidation, I started to chant a little mantra to get rid of all my doubts. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.
Gulping, I approached the reflecting side of it, fearing what I would see. I was completely unprepared to stare into the burning golden eyes of my alter-ego, both of them with slit pupils. They looked cruel by default and I shivered in fear, despite knowing that those eyes would never hurt me.
I wasn’t so certain the same could be said for anypony else, though...
“Hello, Summer~,” my reflection spoke up and I let out a fearful squeak, screwing my eyes shut. I tried not to think of anything even remotely sexy as her voice did wonders to my nethers. The raunchy quality of it made her seem like one hell of a seductress and I was hopeless to resist. “Mhh. I see you brought the sexy one with you~.”
“Yes, well,” Celestia coughed awkwardly and I chanced a look at my other half again. The way she looked at my twin made me feel slightly jealous, and from the looks of it, she knew perfectly well how I felt. “We came here to ascertain whether or not you’re going to be a threat to my lover.”
“Dear, I am literally her,” Fallen Star smirked, showing her sharp teeth off. Her behavior was almost predatory in nature. And yet, I couldn't help but feel like it was just for show. “I’m sure she has already told you so. Or I suppose I told you, but let’s just pretend for now we are two completely separate entities. Fewer headaches that way.”
“You... aren’t a split personality?” I asked, uncertainly. Her smoldering gaze turned back to me with a raised brow.
Fallen Star sneered. “No, you’re talking to yourself, you idiot,” she shot back, a wickedly sharp fang showing past her... or was it my lips? I’m just going to say ‘her’ as long as we are talking to each other with the soul mirror between us. “We are one and the same pony. I am you when you give in to the darkness. Conversely, if I give in to the light, I turn back into you.”
“So we can’t be... both?” I asked, confused. “If I’m talking to my darkness right now, is there not a middle ground?”
“Hmmm... I believe it once looked like this?” Star said and conjured up an image of my human self. “Humans do love to represent both sides of the coin, do they not?”
“That’s... messed up. I was never so cruel while I was Rudolph,” I told her. She shrugged back at me.
“But you weren’t the paragon of kindness, either. Sure, you tried to live by that example, but you never were as forgiving as you are as a pony. Don’t even try to pretend otherwise, you know I’m right~,” she said and I had to give it to her, she was kinda right? I didn't like it one bit, though. “Anyway, back to the question at hoof whether or not 'I' am a threat... what do you think, Summer?”
“I...” I mumbled, fidgeting on my flanks slightly. “I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. Anypony deserves a chance, after all. And... we are both the same pony, right? If you are a threat, then so am I. This is really confusing... I don’t want to condemn you for thinking the way you do...”
“Oh, how I love your bleeding heart,” Fallen Star cackled. “It has taught me many things already, my dear. Our little bout of insanity was an... 'eye-opener', to say the least. I’m glad dear Lulu managed to piece us back together,”—she licked her lips slowly, slightly mockingly—” I can tell this is going to be one very interesting relationship between us.”
“Don’t mock her,” Luna snorted. “Only Tia and I are allowed to mock her bleeding heart.”
“Oh, the blue one is also here, what joy...” Star sighed and I felt her (my?) annoyance spike up. “You took my fun away from me.”
“No, I made you see reason, something I’m sure you’re more than glad for,” Luna shot back with a sharp glare. Fallen Star grumbled grumpily with a pout, not at all willing to admit that my little sister was even remotely right with that. I could feel what she was feeling, they were my emotions after all. This still had me incredibly confused, much to my chagrin.
“Fine, fine,” Fallen Star grumbled. “You win, dear sister of mine. I will only do what my 'good' half sees fit should be done, happy?”
“Very,” Luna nodded with a smile.
“Hmph. If you weren’t able to tell if I am honest with you or not, I would go so far as to say you’re a gullible fool,” she snorted, looking down at my sister with a frown. “But I will stick to my words as long as we are not in mortal danger. Only then will I bring our foe a swift death. No need to be needlessly cruel with it. Besides, my good side would feel bad and I hate feeling like that.”
My twin gave her a small smile, still a bit skeptical, but she was starting to warm up to my other half. “I’m glad you are willing to show some modicum of kindness, at least. It is going to take some time getting used to…"—Tia motioned at Fallen Star's general appearance with a hoof—" that, but I know you're still the same pony deep down,” she said. “Now, I think it’s time we find out if my sister and I have this... 'darkness'... within us as well or not.”
“Oh, I am very curious to see where that question leads to,” Fallen Star grinned wickedly. “Make room for our twin, Summer! This, I got to see!”
I rolled my eyes as I basically just told myself to shove it and stepped aside from the mirror to give my wife the center spot to look into the soul mirror. And as she did so, her reflection changed to one quite similar (but at the same time very different) to what mine was like.
The sclera of the pony in front of my wife was pitch black, almost demonic in appearance, making her eyes stand out a lot. And while her coat didn’t change colors that much in contrast to my alter-ego, it did gain a more orange tint to it when compared to her usual pearly white fur. Her mane was just as fiery as my own when I was Fallen Star. Perhaps it was a bit brighter with a lighter tone of color, now that I had a better comparison. The yellow sun, indeed.
“Ahh, what a delightful surprise~,” Evil-Twin said as my sisters and I stared at her smug grin. “I do enjoy seeing this... weak version of myself. It just goes to show how superior I am to you. No wonder, I am magnificent, it would be impossible to mimic my majestic look.”
“And what do you call yourself, hm?” Luna snorted and the pony in the mirror gave her a condescending look.
“Watch your tongue, girl,” she snarled. “It would be such a shame to lose it, wouldn’t it? I would hate to disfigure such a pretty face. Oh, just thinking about all the things I could do with you gets me excited, gorgeous~.”
My sister facehoofed. “Great, she is a pervert, too,” Luna muttered and I giggled. Well, they are the same pony, it shouldn’t come to her as such a surprise.
“If you must know... I am Daybreaker, the Eternal Sun, the one and only true regent,” Daybreaker introduced herself. “And if dear me should get her mildly less majestic flanks in gear to become me, there won’t be anything stopping me from forcing my tongue down your throat, my gorgeous little sister. You would be at my mercy alone and I wouldn’t ever let you go. Mhhn, yes~.”
Luna blushed and sputtered, her eyelid twitching as she turned her gaze away from her, avoiding ours in the process at the same time as well. Oh, I see where this is going... she had those kinds of fantasies, hadn’t she?
Daybreaker let out a cackle as she saw our little sister squirm on the spot while Luna threw small glances back every once in a while. I had to giggle as the picture looked absolutely adorable.
The scene was interrupted as Celestia tapped her hoof against the mirror's surface, drawing the attention back to her. “What I want to know, though,” my twin interjected, making Daybreaker raise a brow at her. “Are you a threat to us and our ponies?”
“My, my,” her alter-ego chuckled, grinning maliciously. “Isn’t that the question worth asking? Why do you think I would be, hm?”
“Have you looked into a mirror recently?” Celestia snorted, raising a brow at her. "You don't exactly come across as fair and forgiving."
“Eh, I guess you have a point there,” Daybreaker shrugged, not at all offended. She then licked her lips, eying both Luna and me with a look that basically screamed she was thinking naughty things right now. “I suppose those two will have to be enough for me. I do enjoy the look of their... flanks. Oh, the things I want to do to you right now. Mhnn~.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Can you give us a serious answer for once?” my sister asked, put off by her perverted behavior. “Preferably one not filled with your baser instincts?”
Daybreaker snorted derisively to herself, crossing her arms over her chest in a pout. “Ruin my fun, why don’t you?” she muttered with a scowl on her muzzle. “Now, while I have not lied about you lovely ladies, there is little that interests me in hurting the ponies you rule over, Celestia. There needs to be a nation to rule over in the first place, after all. Can’t make their lives miserable for the sake of sating my... mhnn... darker desires, or I won’t have anything left to play with~.”
“I suppose that's the best we can ask for,” I sighed. “At least we know where your priorities lie.”
“Oh, dearest sister of mine,” the mare within the mirror sent me bedroom eyes, her tongue licking one of her sharp fangs. “You should know better by now, shouldn’t you? This is one thing Celestia and I can readily agree on, we are the same pony after all, are we not? You, my sweet Sunshine, are my favorite plaything.”
Celestia blushed brightly as her darker self pressed herself against the glass of the mirror, licking it from her side. Luna and I began to blush, too, as Daybreaker let out an exaggerated moan, seemingly getting off on the thought of 'playing' with me.
“How I wish I could just come over there to ravish you all,” she whined, managing to make even that sound sexy. “Fallen Star hit all the right spots, dear. Just thinking about it makes my body all hot and bothered again~. Mhmm, if I concentrate, I can still feel it push into me... filling me to my core. Oh, yes! What a delight that was. And we were so close, too. I was so disappointed when Luna ruined our fun together.”
“You...” Luna sputtered incredulously at her recount of the events and her shamelessness. “You really are a depraved pony, can’t you see what almost happened?”
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist, Moonbutt,” Daybreaker rolled her eyes. “Nothing would have happened, we aren’t in season for that to happen to begin with. Mhh… she could have come gallons of virile seed directly in our womb and nothing would have come from it. At least, I think that’s how it works... You know, our dear mother should have given us a bit more of a sex education than ‘Don’t leave the fucking room, you morons’...”
“Those weren’t her words...” I corrected her indignantly. “Although… I guess it basically boils down to that. I think Mom was trying to avoid giving us the talk, to be honest.”
“Well, it’s been fun, little Sunshine,” Daybreaker said, polishing the red metal of her shoes on her chest, checking her own reflection in them afterward. She really was a vain pony, even more so than my wife already was. “I’m sure you are all raring to find out what little Lulu’s dark side looks like, as am I. So, shoo~ shoo~, Tia, get your cake flanks away from the mirror.”
My twin rolled her eyes as she also basically told herself to fuck off, something that would have been quite funny if the purpose of our visit here wasn’t quite as mentally exhausting as it was. Seeing the bad versions of yourselves was a bit more eye-opening than I thought. Although, I had to say that they weren’t... entirely irredeemable, just misguided. And/or perverted (as well as highly irresponsible).
This, whatever this was, had to be something unique to the alicorn race. In no way would a normal pony have such a powerful dark side to them, at least not one that could back that claim up with overpowered celestial powers. Perhaps alicorns were more prone to embody all aspects of harmony, good and bad.
Harmony wasn’t just the peaceful image most ponies would think of. While it could mean something like that, the most basic example of harmony is of opposites existing in a balanced co-existence. That also included dark and light. A thing that we seemingly represented to the highest degree.
Luna hesitated for a moment before stepping in front of the mirror with a gulp. I could tell that she wasn’t particularly keen on standing in front of it, probably because of the last ten years she had spent shunning us. She did say she has felt something similar before, didn't she? Oh, Lulu…
Inky blackness greeted us as the very light in the room seemed to get sucked into the mirror suddenly. A malicious laugh began to fill our surroundings and a pair of icy cold blue eyes opened within the darkness of the mirrored chamber. As has been the case with Celestia’s and my dark side, the pupils of the pony in front of us were vertical slits that practically drilled themselves into our souls. Her mane, while still a starry depiction of the night sky, was more cloudy and miasma-like than Luna’s regular mane.
“Ah, the pony I have been waiting for to admit I am a part of her for such a long time,” the pitch-black mare sneered. “Have you come to accept me now? You know we could rule over this world on our own, dear Luna. Give in and I promise you none shall stand against us, certainly not those two... sun cretins.”
Sun cretins? How very imaginative, sister. “Wow, that hurt,” I rolled my eyes, my voice as close to a monotone as I could make it. “My poor heart. What am I going to do in order to ever cope with this?”
“Silence, worm!” she growled in a bellowing tone, wings flared out in anger. “Nopony gave you permission to speak! Luna and I are talking to each other, stay out of this!”
“Leave Summer alone,” Luna snorted, poking a hoof against the glass surface with a glare. “And I will never give in to you if this is how you think a ruler should behave.”
“We could make the night last eternally, poor Luna,” her dark side mockingly said, grinning maliciously all the while. “We can make these ponies see the beauty of the night that you so tirelessly craft each and every night, only for them to ignore it! You want to be appreciated for it, do you not? I can help you with that. All you have to do is give me permission to take over.”
Luna snorted. “I am not such a fool to fall for your honeyed words, who do you take me for? Nighttime eternal would eradicate all life on this planet, and for what? For a foolish notion of making the rest of ponykind see us from within the shadow of Celestia? It won’t last long, that I can tell you with absolute certainty,” my sister explained harshly. “Don’t think my sisters would stand idly by while I let you do this, either. I can count on them to put a stop to this madness you propose.”
“Oh, yes... you can count on the pervert to force her love on you,” the black mare responded with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t you see their devious little plot to control you through these false promises of companionship? You can hide your disgusting feelings from them and yourself all you want, this is wrong and you know it.”
“No...” Luna muttered. “They wouldn’t ever use me like that, they are better than that. You might be right that I have avoided them mainly because I didn’t want to make these feelings come true, but that doesn’t mean that they do not exist.”
“Luna, are you...” I whispered, ignoring the snarl from the mare in the mirror.
“Yes, I guess I am, sister,” Luna smiled shyly. “It’s no use running away from my feelings and keep pretending they don’t exist, it only leads to more misery in the end. Something this idiot is keen on making me feel. What I am keen to make myself feel, I suppose.”
Together with my sister, I hugged Luna with a happy sniffle. Oh, how I've waited for this day. We were finally back together, and from now on, even more than ever.
Then, after the moment was over, my wife turned her head towards the reflection in the mirror with a frown on her muzzle. “Tell me, what is your name?” she asked with thinly disguised contempt. “Surely Her Glorious Snootiness has a name?”
“Nightmare Moon, you pathetic excuse for a pony,” the reflection growled, glaring balefully at my twin. “I am jealousy incarnate, the nightmare feasting on your fears, the moon that will rise for eternity... ~boo.”
I giggled, a small smile coming to my face. “You’re not that scary,” I said, feeling kind of giddy. “Kinda cute, actually. Look at me, I’m so emo! Woe is me! I am constantly sad that nopony understands me! My sisters don’t appreciate me, I have to lash out, bla bla bla. You’re like a cliché cartoon villain, Moony.”
Nightmare sneered balefully at me before turning to my sister. Or rather, her good half, I guess. “Do you see now, Luna? These are the ponies in charge of Equestria while you remain in their shadows,” she said, stomping her hoof angrily. “They mock us! The one and only true princess in this room! How can you just stand there and do nothing?! Let us get rid of them right now!”
“No,” Luna mumbled, smiling back at her reflection ruefully. “They mock you, my deepest fears and anxieties, Nightmare. All so that I can face them and accept them more easily.”
“What?!” Nightmare cried out in confusion and rage, rearing up on her hind legs with a flap of her midnight black wings, unable to comprehend how she could take our side instead of hers. “That is what you take away from this?! Have they finally corrupted you, Luna?!”
“No, Nightmare. They have made us fall in love with them,” Luna smiled gently and Nightmare's face reflected a shocked expression. “We are one, are we not? Perhaps it was you who held me back from realizing this, but I do love them. From the depths of my heart. And that includes you, as much as you try to deny it for the both of us.”
“Aww,” I whispered, hugging her again with my twin. “Lulu... you’re so sweet.”
“Indeed, sister,” Celestia giggled. “Maybe we should have done this a lot sooner if this is the outcome.”
“Yes, well…” Luna smiled a bit nervously. “Had I not let my fears control me for so long, we wouldn’t have drifted apart so much, to begin with. I’m sorry, Tia, Summer.”
“Oh, how heart-wrenchingly warm this all is,” Nightmare growled in disgust. “At last you acknowledge a part of us that you have run from for so long, dear Luna. Don’t make me throw up. Are we going to stay forever in their shadows, then? I see I can’t appeal to your senses anymore. How disappointing.”
“She has never been in our shadows,” I shot back, nuzzling my sister affectionately. “Lulu, why haven’t you ever told us that you felt like this? We would have been there for you.”
“I guess seeing Tia be adored so much has made me feel… kind of left out. It has been my fault, though. I was the one that isolated herself, it wasn’t your fault that these feelings started to appear. Nightmare is right, ponies don’t appreciate me as much as you, but I know you would never do this to me on purpose. My darker side is perhaps a bit too blind to notice this,” Luna answered and Celestia embraced our sister in her wings, as did I.
“You are our sister, Lulu,” Celestia said, happily enjoying the show of trust and love as Luna rested her head on her chest. “We are meant to rule together, and if ponies don’t appreciate you as much as we do, they don’t deserve you. If you want them to enjoy your nights, then we just have to make sure that they see the things worth staying up for. What do you say to working on that when we wake up?”
“I’d like that, Tia,” Luna whispered back, looking up at her and I couldn't help but squee in glee as she initiated a small kiss between them. It was hesitant and so very skittish, but. Oh. My. Gosh. They looked so cute together like that! I really wish I had a camera for moments like these. “I can’t thank you enough, both of you.”
“We’re glad to be here for you, Lulu,” I smiled. “Perhaps we could start a moon festival or announce a night where ponies can stay up and watch a meteor shower pass by. I think that would get plenty of ponies to watch the night sky.”
“That is an excellent idea, Summer,” Celestia said, an approving smile on her muzzle. “We could make it happen every few months, or make it a national holiday like the Crystal Faire.”
“Ugh. All this happiness is making me gag,” Nightmare Moon commented sourly and we rolled our eyes at her.
“She really is your opposite,” I snorted, snorting out a laugh as Nightmare pouted at us. “Aww, you can be cute!”
“Shut up, daypony,” Nightmare muttered indignantly.
“Aww, you can’t deny it~,” I sing-songed, smiling fondly as Luna’s other half just continued to grumble with her forelegs crossed over her chest. Once you got past her little emotional shield, she wasn’t that bad deep down. I mean sure, she wanted to plunge Equestria into eternal darkness, but that was only because she felt like Luna’s night was underappreciated. Something that was easily rectified with a little bit of effort.
“So, Nightmare...” Luna spoke up slowly, sitting down right in front of the mirror. “Are you going to be a threat to this world or will you accept that there is something more worthwhile than eternal night?”
“I hate to say this,” Nightmare started with a grimace on her muzzle, fidgeting on the spot as she struggled to get the words out. “But... I think you’re right. Somewhat, at least. The jury is still out about those two. I can see that night eternal wouldn’t make our ponies love us more... probably... and Celestia is... ugh… right. They don’t deserve us if they continue to treat us like we are not even there.”
“So, is that a yes for ‘I won’t hurt our subjects’?” Luna asked, laying her hoof on the surface of the mirror with a hopeful expression. Nightmare hesitantly reached a hoof of her own out and placed it against hers. She sighed and gave her a nod.
“I will acquiesce to your judgment, Luna. Don’t make me regret this.”
“The only way for that to happen would be for me to regret it,” Luna smiled. “What do you say, partners?”
“Partners,” Nightmare said and gave her a subdued smile. “You’re not half bad for a small and weak version of myself.”
“Both of us have our strengths and weaknesses, Nightmare. Don’t pretend to be so superior to me, I can feel what you feel. You don’t have to be so insecure about everything, you know?”
“Ugh, emotions are such a hassle to deal with,” Nightmare groaned, looking away to the side. She chewed on her lips for a moment, struggling with herself. Luna gave her a puppy dog look, making her darker half sigh at her. “Fine! Have it your way, then. I’ll try to be better, whatever. Just stop giving me that look!”
“Thank you,” Luna said with a happy smile, relieved that they had come to an understanding at last. It really was cute, no matter how you looked at it. “Now, I think we are done here for the moment, let’s enjoy the rest of the night.”
“Do feel free to come back and visit,” Nightmare said, scuffing her hoof on the ground. “Despite everything, I do enjoy your company...”
“Aww, she does love us,” I giggled, getting her to grumble angrily again.
“Don’t bring that one back, she annoys me,” Nightmare said, blowing a raspberry at me. Luna snorted at that and let out a laugh as I was the one pouting now.
Why were my sisters so mean to me?
“You are just saying that, Nightmare. I know you enjoy having her shower you with affection,” my sister shot back with a knowing smirk on her muzzle. Nightmare looked especially cute as she tried to deny what Luna just said, but she ultimately gave in with a small, reluctant nod. Her dark muzzle lit up with a blush and I felt a little bit mischievous as I gave Luna’s ear a small lick, seeing both Luna’s and Nightmare’s wings flare out at the same time.
Celestia and I giggled together as both of them tried to calm their racing hearts down. Luna might have accepted her feelings for us, but I could tell that she would need some time to get entirely comfortable with this.
I don’t really blame her for that, it was hard for me to get comfortable with the idea of loving my twin before I knew for a hundred percent that she was my wife from a past life.
Luna didn't even have that. We weren't a thing back then and now even her sister had the hots for her. I at least knew she loved me since we were teens on Earth, but Tia never really made it obvious how she loved her even back then. It must be awkward for her, to have Celestia look at her in that way. It probably wasn't helped by me looking so much like her, it was hard to tell us apart without the difference in our manes and attitude.
Whenever she looked at me, I could see that same longing I had seen in her on Earth. And now that Tia and I share the same face, I can't imagine what that must be like.
Does she see Tia in me or does she see me in Tia? What about both? I know I sometimes saw my wife looking back at me in the mirror. Perhaps that would ease her into the idea of being in a herd with us, or it would make everything more complicated than it needed to be. At least it got easier to tell us apart since we got our Cutie Marks. I don't want to know what kinds of chaos and mischief Tia could have gotten into if she pretended to be me in order to seduce our sister.
Something told me that would have burned all bridges with our sister and I was glad Tia couldn't get the idea anymore. Thankfully, I won't have to worry about that with our sister finally opening up to us after all this time.
For once, I was genuinely happy again and once the time of dawn neared the next morning, we woke up in a big pile of cuddles and feathers. I wish I could have slept in for once, though.
“Summer... we need to get up and lower the moon and raise the suns,” Luna grumbled as I held her close to me, not letting go of her with my hooves.
“Do we have to?” I mumbled, still sleepy and very reluctant to start the day with our usual boring routine of governing Equestria. Now that I think about it… “I liked Nightmare’s idea of an eternal night. It means I wouldn’t ever have to get out of bed and I could cuddle you for eternity. The cuddles shall last forever~!”
“Hah. Hah. Very funny, sister,” Luna whispered and I knew she had just rolled her eyes at me. “But as much as I admittedly enjoy having you hold me this close to you, we still have a duty to fulfill.”
“Damn this world with its screwed-up solar system,” I said grumpily, letting go of my adorable little sister. "Just once. I want to sleep in again just once."
It was for naught. Luna pushed me out of bed and hopped down after me. Celestia was already standing on the balcony, waiting for us. I glared at the damn smile on her muzzle as she watched us get up. Stupid morning, taking my cuddle opportunity away from me.
“While it would be enjoyable to be able to sleep in again, I don’t think ponies would appreciate us changing such things on a whim,” Celestia told me and we shared a small nuzzle. It considerably brightened up my mood (not that I have given up entirely on my plan to cuddle all day long with Luna and Tia). “Now, let’s get this done, afterward we can talk more about our relationship before court starts.”
“Yes, that...” Luna said, shifting on her hooves. “This is still weird for me, you know?”
Celestia smiled reassuringly down at Luna, putting a wing over her back. Together, we reached out to our respective celestial bodies in the sky and brought about a new dawn for Equestria. I had to fight against the overwhelming feelings from my sun as she flooded me with joy again.
That red sun in the sky was such a child at times, I had no idea how I could put up with these antics every day. Well, I mean it was really cute, so there was that... I just couldn’t resist the charm of my adorable sun.
I told Celestia and Luna that I would be back within a few minutes and teleported myself to the kitchens, surprising a few ponies with my sudden entrance. Not wanting to waste time, I quickly started to make breakfast for me and my sisters and gathered a few plates and a tray to bring everything back to our room. With a spring in my step, I also got some cups to pour tea into while I boiled the water in the teapot with my magic, preparing a calming lavender-scented tea. Hopefully, it would taste as good as it smelled.
Having everything together nice and tidy, I brought our breakfast back to our room. Luna and Celestia eyed the cookies I made with hungry eyes, but I told them they would have to eat their pancakes first. Both of them pouted at me, although they did as I asked of them.
It warmed my heart to see them enjoy my cooking so much, even though it was nowhere near the level of what the kitchen staff could have whipped up. The breakfast I made was more personal, in my opinion.
“If you want, we can start off slow with you, Lulu,” Celestia said, happily munching on a chocolate chip cookie and drinking from the tea I made as we all rested against each other.
“I...” Luna whispered, looking at both of our gentle eyes. “I’d like that, Tia. Let me get used to being with you in that way first. With you and Summer, I guess. I can’t believe ponies actually have herds here in Equestria...”
“As far as I have noticed, there are more mares than stallions,” I explained, humming thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to assume that monogamy wouldn’t work out all that well with a four-to-one gender ratio. But you try telling that to the unicorns. We would have to look into this to get a more accurate gender ratio. Everypony deserves a chance at love if they seek it.”
“Summer is right,” Celestia nodded, finishing off her drink with a satisfied sigh. “I would have loved to have something like this on Earth. It would have made things so much better. Those silly humans and their restrictions on love.”
“Ah, so I’m not the only one distancing myself from our past life, huh?” I giggled, looking at my wife past Luna's head with a smug look. Celestia rolled her eyes back at me, an amused smile on her muzzle. “I’m not surprised that you are all for the idea of a harem, whatever form it takes.”
My wife's smile turned into a smirk. “You know me too well, Sunshine,” she said. “Although, the allure for me is more in the fact that I have my own sisters in my herd than some random ponies.”
“Why am I not surprised,” Luna said with a raised brow, chewing on the last remaining pieces of her cookie. “I guess your perverted nature is kind of... endearing, to be honest.”
Celestia grinned and let out a silly fake villainous laugh. “Yes~! Join the dark side, Luna! I will have you living out your deepest desires in no time! Mwahaha!”
Unbidden, I snorted as I drank from my tea, coughing as I made a small mess while my wife continued to make a fool out of herself with a bright smile. She looked way too smug about it, too. Luna couldn’t keep herself from laughing because of what Tia made me do. And, as I cleaned myself up, I also had to crack up at the situation. It was kind of funny, I will admit that.
“Oh, I have an idea of what Luna likes, already,” I giggled, getting my little sister to stop her wheezing laughter abruptly. “Daybreaker gave me an idea about it, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, Tia.”
“I like where you are going with this, Summy,” Celestia grinned. “Could it be little Lulu likes to have somepony force themself on her?”
“N-no!” Luna stammered, her face blazing. “Don’t read into things that a-aren’t there, sister!”
“Oh, you definitely do!” I chuckled with mirth, feeling satisfaction in the fact that she was so embarrassed about it after she had laughed at me as I snorted up my tea through my nostrils. “There is nothing to be ashamed about wanting to be the submissive one, Lulu.”
That made my wife smile with glee. “Indeed. Summer is an expert in being submissive,” she commented. “I just wish she would let me put her in restraints, that’s the only thing I can’t get her to try out.”
Luna blushed even more heavily as I fidgeted on the spot. Oh, how the tables have turned...
“Can we not talk about this?!” I whispered with my ears splayed black against my head. Something about being completely unable to move always made me shiver in fear. “We shouldn’t even be talking about having sex so soon while Luna is still adjusting to being in a relationship with us.”
“Fine,” Tia mumbled sourly. “I still don’t understand it, though. You’re perfectly fine with me telling you to stay still, but when I merely mention bindings you start to panic.”
“I’m sorry, but you know I don’t like that,” I mumbled. “It’s hard to put it into words...”
“I’d like that...” Luna whispered almost inaudibly. Tia and I blinked, barely understanding what she had said as we were completely unprepared for her confession.
“What?” Celestia asked, not sure if she had misheard our little sister. “Did you just...”
“I’m not saying I want to do this now,” Luna interjected, shaking her head frantically in denial. “But... I like being unable to do anything while somepony can do whatever they want with me...”
“Luna, I think you just made me love you even more,” Celestia whispered happily, embracing Lulu in her hooves and squeezing the living daylights out of her. “Whenever you feel like you’re ready for that, I’m sure you will love it.”
“Thanks... I guess?” Luna answered unsurely. “I think I... I want to stick with, uhm..."—she gulped, blushing furiously—" kisses for now, though.”
“No need to be embarrassed about wanting to share a kiss here and there with us, Lulu,” I smiled gently, heart melting at the sight. Luna nodded cutely as she placed her head against Celestia’s chest and my twin placed her own lovingly on top of hers while being mindful of Luna’s horn. I joined in on their embrace, enveloping them both with my wings.
Oh, how long I have longed for this day. This day was just perfect...
“I really do love you,” Luna whispered to us, letting out a small sigh. “No need to hide that from you anymore... I shouldn’t have tried so hard to change your feelings for me through my icy behavior.”
Tia hummed while I took Luna's hoof in mine. “You don’t need to apologize,” Celestia told her and I agreed with her on this. “How many times have we already told you that, huh? And we will continue to do so until you finally get it, sister. If anything, it should be us apologizing to you.”
“I still feel like I should explain myself about this, make you understand what I was feeling,” Luna said with a sad huff. “I thought that if I stayed away from you, I would stop feeling these feelings altogether. That only managed to make me feel more jealous, though.”
“In which way? Nightmare said you felt underappreciated for your night,” I asked, thinking back on our dream. “For what other reason would you be jealous of us?”
“For being so happy together!” Luna cried out, lightly hitting the covers of our bed with a hoof as she screwed her eyes shut. “I wanted what you had for so long, Tia! You had the perfect husband on Earth, even though he constantly made a fool out of himself trying to impress you with the things you liked! I know you knew I was jealous of you then, I’m not blind...
“It was hard, seeing you start a family and live happily together with your kids. I never had that and when you died, everything fell apart for me on Earth. I was alone with your family, feeling like I had lost the last light in my life. Your parents tried to help me, Summer, but they couldn’t offer what I really craved. They weren’t able to replace you and Tia.
“And then, when I was reborn, I started to feel happy again. I had such cool sisters and an awesome mother, nothing from Earth seemed to matter anymore. It was like I got that spark of light back, the same feeling I had for you back on Earth, Summer. And I started to try to take you away from Tia because I didn’t want to lose your affection, even though I only saw you as my big sister with an equally big heart.
“But... then I learned you were Rudolph, and all I felt was like I had been betrayed. It felt like you didn’t trust me to know and then I made the connection of you and Celestia being together... because, of course, my dolt of a sister is your fucking twin. I wished Magic hadn’t told me who you were. It was like a slap to the muzzle, a wake-up call that I didn’t want to have.
“And then Celestia had to make her advances on me because she just couldn’t resist the idea of a harem, evoking all of those confusing feelings in me. I mean, you are my friggin’ sister, Tia! What was I supposed to feel?! This isn’t some normal thing ponies, or even humans, do. They don’t just go around asking their fucking siblings out!
“Besides, Summer is my sister now, too. You have no idea how much that made me want to hate myself for starting to feel like I did while you were still male, Summer! You were my sister for almost as long as you had been married to Catherine, for fuck’s sake! And you just had to feel the same way about me as Tia did...
“I tried to stay away from you out of fear. This wasn’t how I ever imagined it to feel like, it still feels surreal to me even. But then I got jealous that you practically didn’t even care that this was wrong. Sure, you were married before this, I understand that, but you are twins now! I would have thought that you at least would have had second thoughts about this, Summer!
“But even you felt attracted to me now, and I didn’t know what to do about it… so I just tried to avoid both of you as much as possible. Tia more than you, Summer, because you at least never brought your feelings up again. I knew that Tia wouldn’t be able to hold her tongue for long if I made an effort to talk to her. Sometimes I wonder how she even gets anything done here without constantly having her mind in the gutter.
“All of this continued on for ten years because I was too much of a coward to admit to myself that I wanted to accept your offer, even if it was wrong of me. As time continued on and I tried my best to alienate you with the royal we and my icy behavior, things didn’t work out as I had imagined they would. Both of you weren’t fooled by my act and I started to resent you for it.
“Of course, then Radiant Hope came to us and the whole Sombra thing happened, opening my eyes to another pony that let themselves get consumed by their dark feelings because they were too much of a coward to acknowledge the way they felt about the pony they loved. I could tell that he had a thing for her and I didn’t want to end up like he did. So I tried to look past how wrong this was and accepted that I am indeed in love with you, both of you.
“Lastly, there was your little episode of madness, Summer. I feared I had lost you forever as you turned into Fallen Star right in front of my eyes, hell-bent on turning Sombra to ash because I wasn’t there to dispel the nightmarish vision he subjected you to. I don’t ever want to regret not taking this leap and allow myself to feel happy with both of you, even if you are my sisters.
“We’re all that we have left of our family... I feel like I need to appreciate that more. It feels like a massive mistake, not allowing myself to love you. I’ve realized that now and I can’t…"—she let out a shuddering breath, tears flowing freely—" I can’t ignore my feelings any longer. So please, whatever may happen in the future, promise me that we will stay together. Always. I don’t want to lose you ever again...”
My twin and I listened closely with mixed feelings. On one hoof, I was happy that she was acknowledging these feelings, but on the other... there was a pit forming in my stomach that managed to make me feel incredibly uncomfortable at the same time. I rubbed my hoof over her back throughout her explanation to keep her calm, not wanting to see any more tears fall from her eyes. My heart quivered in my chest as she told us what she thought and I was unable to keep my own tears at bay.
I felt ashamed of myself that I jumped so easily on board with Tia's idea of courting our own sister. I should have given this more thought than I did. Especially with how I, too, had struggled with acknowledging these feelings at first before I even knew my twin was Catherine. I had clung to that bit of information to justify still being with her, the relief of having my wife with me having clouded my judgment to such a degree that I got slowly more comfortable with the fact that she was technically my sister now. And that made it easier for me to view Luna in the same light, I had to admit. I clung to the idea that she was Rebecca in her previous life and ignored that she was Luna now. My sweet little sister, my precious Moon.
Celestia wasn’t better off in that regard than I was, her ears displayed quite clearly that she felt ashamed of having pressed these feelings on our little sister without thinking how she would feel about it. Tia had let herself get blinded by the prospect of giving Luna her full love that she conveniently ignored the fact that she was her sister in both lives. A sister that didn’t know what to do with these feelings like she would.
“There you have it,” Luna muttered, out of breath as she had raised her voice considerably in her explanation. “I love you. I fucking love you. I love you so much that I don’t care that it is wrong anymore, I just want to have you back. Please, please, please, promise me that one thing.”
“Lulu, you never lost us,” I consoled, nuzzling the side of her head gently. Her teary eyes looked up into mine and I just wanted to see her smile again. Seeing her so sad, it made my insides churn. “We were always here for you to come and talk to us. Perhaps we should have confronted you about this earlier and tried to apologize harder for our behavior. I’m so sorry we had been such bad sisters to you, and even worse lovers. I promise you that I won’t ever leave you.
“And I guess it was my fault that this escalated so badly over the past ten years by wanting to let you sort through these feelings on your own. I shouldn’t have let you go through this emotional minefield on your own like that, mainly because I know how it feels to have struggled with coming to terms with loving your own sibling as I hadn’t known Tia was Catherine from the beginning.”
“I have to agree with Summer, Lulu,” Celestia whispered. I've never seen her look so devastated. “I’m sorry for having been this inconsiderate of your feelings about this. I just... felt like it was an opportunity I should take once I knew that we were all that is left of our family, from both worlds. I can’t help myself from feeling excited at loving my own sisters, even if others find it despicable.
“Both of you are the only ones ever that truly understood me, not judging me for anything. Well, not everything, but still. You two at least make an effort to get over it, that’s not something anypony would do or even attempt to do. I hope you can forgive me for having been a bad sister. That’s the first thing I should be, right? A good sister. A lover can come after that. I promise to always stay at your side, Lulu. Even if it might kill me.”
“You aren’t bad sisters,” Luna sighed, closing her eyes contemplatively. “We all could have done something to clear this up, the fault lies with none of us. Or with all of us, that depends on how you want to look at it.
“I thank you for sticking with me even after I had been so cold to you. I don’t fault you for anything of this, both for how you wanted to have Summer and me love you, Tia. And for letting me sort through these feelings on my own, Sunny.”
“You know, Sunny is a pretty good nickname,” I muttered over to Tia, giving her a look. “How come you never thought of that, huh?”
My twin grumbled to herself, pouting. “I still like Summy more,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me defiantly. “Besides, Sunny can be Luna’s nickname for you, what do you say?”
“I’d love that,” I giggled, seeing Luna smile silently, too. She seemed content to stay quiet in our embrace after having cried so much. Something I couldn’t really fault her for. This was comfy, after all.
A few minutes passed as I didn’t really want to do anything else besides hold on to my sisters. It might be a good idea to skip court for today, now that I think about it. It would give us some much-deserved relaxation and cuddle time. Besides, the nobles could survive a day without us, right? “What do you say, should we cancel court for today and just laze around like this? I think that after all that we have gone through, we deserve a small rest from our daily duties.”
“Yes! That’s an excellent idea, Summer,” Celestia agreed eagerly. “I think I don’t even need to ask you if you are on board with this idea or do I, Lulu? Out of all of us, you are kinda the only one that tries to get out of doing work most of the time.”
Our sister snorted. “Because it’s boring,” Luna answered back, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “I would like to stay in bed the whole day, though. Let the commoners and nobles complain as much as they want, the world won’t end because of it.”
“Great, I’ll tell the guards,” I grinned, hopping off the bed with a little spring in my steps. With a few whispered words at the door, I returned back to my sisters with a happy smile on my muzzle.
I situated myself on the left side of Luna while Tia took her other side as we laid back down under the covers of Tia's gigantic bed (seriously, it would have fit in our old home and taken up the entire space there). Luna gave both of our cheeks a quick and small kiss with a burning deep red muzzle as we let ourselves doze off for a little bit. My heart gave a little flip in my chest in joy, the show of affection saying more than words ever could.
Just being close to each other was enough to tell us that everything would work out in the end. While we had the odd few interactions with monsters in the past, this had been the worst one yet. This was the first time we had to go against another pony and not some dragon stealing the only protection of a kingdom that was now forever lost to us.
Sombra would be the first of many challenges that would change how we would view the world, that much I was sure of. And if we can’t adapt to those trying encounters, I fear what would happen to the rest of the world. We have to stay strong, together. Our bond would give us the strength we would need, I was sure of that.
But I also feared that it could become our weakness, should we not be careful. It is best that we don’t make too many enemies. At least, not for as long as we could avoid doing so. It’s only a matter of time, though. Magic’s warnings weren’t just for show and our fight with Sombra was only our first taste of that. Amore already paid the price for a mistake I had made.
If that letter had never reached Radiant Hope, how would have Sombra turned out? Would he still have become that monster we had to seal away? Or could he have become an upstanding citizen with his love at his side? My own arrogance in thinking that I should get her away from what I perceived to be a threat led to that very threat coming into existence in the first place.
Would Amore still be alive and well had I not tried to get Hope away from Sombra? All of these 'what-if' questions were driving me crazy. The only thing I could do, though, was to give Amore the proper respect by holding a ceremony for her.
An idea both Celestia and Luna immediately jumped on board with as soon as I brought it up to them. So, that was what we planned to do and we would do it in Canterlot so anypony that wanted to come had an easier time getting there than they would have had if they had to come to our castle instead.
Canterlot was the capital city of Equestria, it was an easy choice to pick for the ceremony. And it was there that we stood next to each other on a stage a few days later.
Starswirl and the rest of the Founders of Equestria (minus Platinum) were also there, every one of them wearing black cloaks for the occasion as we all stood in the slight drizzle. The weather for this day was explicitly in a solemn mood, adding weight to the loss our world has suffered from Amore’s passing.
“We are gathered here today so that we can pay respects to a beloved ruler,” I spoke over to the crowd with the Royal Canterlot Voice, despite its volume it sounded like it was barely above a whisper. “Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire was a wise and kind mare, always looking out for those under her care. She was a symbol of hope and love to her ponies, standing strong even in hard times...”
The gathered masses before us looked just as sad as I felt right now, heads bowed in sorrow for what were truly dark times, indeed. My eyes lingered on a light grey stallion in a suit of all things, wearing a fedora upon his head that either completely hid his mane (which couldn’t have been possible) or covered a blank head (which was even weirder to me). He stared impassively into my soul with his unblinking eyes and for a moment, I forgot I was supposed to continue with the speech. He seemed... strangely familiar to me. Like I had seen him somewhere before, but I couldn’t put my hoof on where exactly. I would have thought to remember a pony that stood out like a sore hoof, he seemed entirely out of place with his choice of clothing (especially in this day and age, to be honest). Thankfully, my sister was there to step up for me.
“With a heavy heart, we tell thee now of her demise at the hooves of a tyrant,” Luna spoke up next to me, and while she looked stern, I could see her own tears mingle with the rain falling down from the trist and gloomy clouds up above. I was thankful that she continued on for me as I struggled with my voice. And as I looked back to where I had seen this strange stallion before, I couldn’t find him anywhere in the crowd. Had I just imagined seeing that pony? “This tyrant sought to destroy what we hold most dear in our hearts. Sombra, throwing away the kindness shown to him by Princess Amore, turned on her and took her life with his own hooves...”
“Not only did he desecrate the very city Amore sought to protect, but he also enslaved her subjects with his cruelty,” Celestia said and I could hear that she was struggling from keeping the anger out of her voice. “Sombra snuffed out one of the brightest lights this world has ever seen to this day and we will forever mourn her loss with heavy hearts. Sadly, even the Empire was not safe from his wrath as we banished this fiend below the ice, as he took it with him through a malicious curse as his last act of defiance...”
“Princess Amore was a shining example that we hope to emulate with our own reign. Her kindness and love should be remembered forever, for it would be a disservice to her memory not to. Amore was a princess unlike any other, but first and foremost, she was a friend. A friend that we cannot even bury and grant her the peaceful rest she deserves here...” I spoke, swallowing tightly as I fought to keep my composure. It was a battle I fought valiantly, for Amore. She deserved to be remembered and I wouldn’t let my mourning stop me from delivering my speech. “So, to help her spirit move on, let us light up the way for her. Let the light of our magic guide her to the next life, wherever it may take her.”
As I said the last words, both of my sisters lit up their own horns just as I did. Starswirl’s and Clover’s horns lit up behind us and I saw the unicorns within the crowd follow our lead. The earthponies and pegasi lit up specially enchanted candles, as well.
And from the light of our collective magic, they rose up. Small little motes of glimmering lights floated up into the sky in a display akin to fireflies or twinkling stars.
“May those lights keep thee safe against the darkness in thy next life, Princess Amore. They will guide thee to a better place, that we promise thee,” I finished, a small sob escaping me and I wasn’t the only one. Many of the gathered ponies let their sadness show in a similar way. Even my sisters and Starswirl, as well as Clover and his friends, were not exempt from joining the rest of us in showing their grief.
We watched on as the tiny wisps of magic grew more distant with each passing second. I didn’t care as I slowly got drenched by the rain while I remained standing there even after the crowd started to disperse as the day neared the end. My sisters, too, stayed with me, showing me their support just as much as I showed it to them.
Oh, Amore... I dearly hope to find you in your next life when our own time comes. I swear to you, I will find you then. And when I do, I will apologize for not having been there for you like a good friend should have been. If we do not meet again, then know that I am deeply sorry, anyway.
“Let us go home, Summer,” Luna whispered, nuzzling my neck softly. I sighed mournfully, giving her a little kiss on her forehead in thanks for staying by my side. “We do not want to catch a cold, now.”
“I doubt I could get one,” I said, ruefully letting out a diminutive laugh. “Not with the fiery aura around me. But thanks for your concern, Lulu.”
“Anytime...” she returned and we took to the air, gliding down towards our castle in the distance. A nice cozy bed sounded just about like the best idea ever right now. Or a pleasant bath together with my sisters as we indulged ourselves with expensive soaps, a few candles, maybe some wine, and some comfort food.
“The speech was wonderful, Summer,” Celestia told me, offering me a slight smile. “I’m sure Amore would have loved it.”
“Thank you,” I sighed. “I feel like I need a few tubs of ice cream right now... I’m glad both of you proceeded with the speech while I had to recompose myself.”
“Of course,” Tia said gently, a distant gaze in her eyes. “Amore was also our friend, we wouldn’t let you go through this alone.”
“I feel like I can’t thank you enough for this,” I mumbled sadly. At least she was past her grudge against Amore now. Better late than never, right?
“You don’t have to thank us, Summer,” Lulu consoled me, her eyes filled with understanding and love. “'tis was but a small thing to do for you, sister. We are here for you, so don’t carry this weight on your own, okay? We both love you.”
“And I love you, too,” I smiled softly. “I don’t know what I would do without either of you.”
“Panic and cry?” Celestia giggled and I smiled a little wider, feeling a bit better at the friendly teasing. “I’m sure we have some comfort food in the kitchens for us to enjoy, what do you say to a nice warm bath followed by preening?”
“That sounds divine, Tia,” I answered. My twin nuzzled me as we touched down a moment later on our balcony, opening the doors with her magic.
While Luna and I prepared our personal bathing chamber, Tia went and searched through the kitchens for some food. I’m glad that we basically had a swimming pool to relax in and with a little bit of magic, the water was steaming already.
Celestia returned with a whole tray full of all kinds of things on it and I was already longingly staring at the crystal berries. That’s one thing I will definitely miss with the Empire gone, our stockpile of those won’t last long without being able to get new ones. We couldn’t grow them ourselves since they needed the Empire to flourish.
“Now, just relax and let me pamper you,” Tia said with a smile, one I readily returned. So, I did just that and enjoyed the snuggles as my twin and little sister playfully fed me various things as we unwound in the water.
Before too long, both of them had me reclining on our bed as they worked on my wings, erasing the stress of the past years with tender care. I couldn’t say this enough, but having them here with me was the best thing Magic could have done for all of us.
I didn’t notice that I fell asleep that evening, feeling a little bit guilty that I hadn’t gotten the chance to return the favor for them. There would be plenty of opportunities later to do just that, though, I’m sure.
Finally, after ten very long years, we were back together like we should be. Luna was finally opening up her feelings to us, Celestia was finally not entirely insensitive to forcing her affection on others, and I finally accepted that I couldn’t just hope for things to fix themselves. Mostly.
Lastly, I had to wonder what happened to Radiant Hope. After the Crystal Empire vanished, she was gone. And I’m pretty sure she hadn’t entered the city, so where did she go off to? I dearly hope she was okay, she was perhaps the one that was the most affected by the recent happenings.
It was her that Sombra couldn’t let go of and she was the one that tried to get him back to the side of the light, trying her damndest to get us to rescue him. In that regard, we failed her. Hope deserved better, both from Sombra and myself. I shouldn’t let my feelings cloud my judgment so much.
Anger and fear only lead to heartache in the long run, something we couldn’t afford to let happen.
